The polls are open...

Okay, they're not really open up here for another six hours. But my election day insomnia has kept me awake long enough to watch the polls open in ten states, including a bunch of battleground states. By the way, if you are in one of those states and you waited in one of those horrendously long lines, the next time you make it to Alaska, I would like to buy you a drink!

I don't understand why there are still undecideds, but there seem to be. So I will both cast my (public) vote, and make a last ditch effort for both Alaskans and non-Alaskans alike.

President:

Barack Obama

For me personally, his Native American plans are pretty key, but if you're really wondeirng where he wants to take the country, his website is a big help. Early childhood education, the war in Iraq, health care and the environment - there are many, many issues that I agree with Obama about. I've previously covered some endorsements by major Native American leaders and organizations, and it really is because they see their future as best in the hands of Obama.

Senator:

Mark Begich

Much has been made of this election, as one of the senate seats that could very well switch parties. But outside of paty politics, I wish people could really take a look at Anchorage before Mark, and Anchorage after. It wasn't a cesspool before, so I think people don't get the contrast as much. But we're much improved, we have so much development, yet unprecedented measures taken for the environment. My household is now able to do curbside recycling! Add to this a great candidate to advocate for Native issues, education and early childhood plans that make sense, and finally someone who is looking at the social problems as problems to fix.

Congressman:

Ethan Berkowitz

To this, I hope I do not do a disservice to Berkowitz in acknowledging I don't know much about him except for his stated issues, and a few public appearances. I agree with most of the stands he takes on the issues, but hope to see him take some strong stands, and get work done, in the future for Rural Alaska and Alaska Native people, energy (not just oil, but real energy reform) and education. Everything I've seen points to a smart, energized candidate, and that is enough for me to give him a chance for the the next few years.


Now if you haven't voted yet - stop reading. Go vote.

Your Alaska Delegates

The Alaska Delegation met this morning at 7am sharp for breakfast, updates, guest speakers and credentials. A lot of confusion with the constantly changing convention schedule, abrupt transportation cut-offs and with only a few spare credentials and passes.

Celtic Diva will solely be covering the breakfast meetings after this - at $25 for guests, I have to bagel it.






This national rep from the AFL-CIO got the Alaska crowd fired up! Especially with:

"Thank God for Mayor Mark Begich! He could be our 60th senator!"









Delegate Brockhurst - one of the "young" delegates - watch for him on CSPAN!

















Guess where the Alaska delegation rates in the delegate "green" challenge? 100%! The Alaskan delegation has been great with carbon offsets and making sure they are all green!










Julie Anderson, a rep from the Obama campaign, came to speak to the Alaska delegation. She focused on the environmental message of Obama - that he's introduced a bill to raise fuel efficiency standards, wants to increase tax credits for hybrid and electric car owners, and, for Alaska, would like to look and incentivizing renewable energy.

And then she said the "A" word....

That's right, ANWR. Specifically, "I don't think Sen. Obama believes that is an appropriate place to be drilling at the moment."

Now, she did get a cheer from one of the delegates, but for the most part... well, do you know the whole "elephant in the room" analogy? I was wondering if anyone would say anything. I needn't have feared.


Well Alaska, if you're wondering if your Alaska delegates are working hard down here - wonder no more! They were all over the ANWR issue. I mean ALL over it.

Some of it was in regards to off shore drilling versus on land.

Delegate Rex Okakok, "ANWR is my neighbor. We strongly believe we can safely develop on-land drilling. But on off-shore drilling - we should not even talk about it... Think of those of us that breathe and live and eat because of that ocean before you even think about off-shore drilling."

Delegate Blake Johnson first asked Anderson if she'd been to ANWR, if anyone had. When she said she hadn't, but would like to, he made sure to say, "You need to come up and see it. Reserve judgement until you do."

Several other delegates commented on drilling (ANWR, off shore,) as well as Pebble Mine. Anderson said that Bristol Bay had come up quite a bit from the Obama campaign in Alaska, and they were looking to address it further.

The delegates received their bags and credentials at the end of the meeting. The fun part about the hotel the delegation is in - the delegations from Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and Minnesota are also housed there.

Delegates Chuck Degnan and Rex Okakok. This is Rex's first time as a delegate:

"The weather took some getting used to. But today - today I feel good."

We're on our way...

So... how do thunderstorms affect airplanes..?...

In a few short hours, I will be getting on a plane to the convention, and for those not in the Anchorage area, I think the last thunder clap sounded about two feet from my home. Now, I'll risk life and limb to get down there, I just want to know the odds.

In an odd twist of irony, I will be leaving this thundery, hateful summer up here (ONE day over 75? Really?) to go down to... thunder and lightning. The forecast for Denver is thunderstorms. All week.

Fortunately, I'm not going down for the weather. I was not quite prepared for the absolute deluge of invites, press releases and general onslaught of information, but I'm pretty excited to go to... everything. I planned on sorting out, in the mass of events happening, a carefully plan of attack to optimize the time down there. Now I'm just going to close my eyes and point.

All the craziness aside, I didn't think I would be this excited before leaving.

Tired as all get out, but excited.

Now let's go nominate Obama!

Indictments, earthquakes, caribou, attack ads - what on Earth?

I have finally recovered from an attack by my old nemesis - strep throat - and had to do a double take once I joined the real world again. But then I had to make sure I was in the real world.

Stevens, older, not younger, is indicted. Not a surprise maybe in that it was going to happen, but certainly in the timing (more on that later). But in the middle of all this, the only thing being reported was an earthquake - in which nothing happened. Nada.

Over a hundred caribou are slaughtered up north, and left to rot. Despite the onslaught of Native-hate this brought out, I can't tell you what this feels like as a Native person. Being taught respect for animals - especially the animals you hunt - is no joke.

Sadness and disgust are doing a little battle for prominence in my emotions over this, and I can't help but think what this says about the people - looks like young men/boys - who did this. What were they taught? Where did they go so horribly wrong? Did they have no respect for their village? And if they were Native men, did they have no respect for their people?

On top of that, McCain has lost his mind. I generally don't like the negative talk about the opposite side, much less giving his ad more mentions, but McCain made me absolutely crazy today. Let's put a picture of Obama up with Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton, and call that responsible and mature debate. With serious problems going on, worldwide and local impact being felt all around, this is how he chooses to show us what he's made of.

When questioned about the ad, McCain's campaign even laughed about it, calling the ad one of the most "entertaining" things he's seen on TV. Entertaining! This from grown men! Despite being considerably "more experienced" than Obama, as he likes to point out, this is one of the most immature attacks I've ever seen.

But the kicker isn't that he's insulting Obama - he's insulting Obama supporters. Surely people can't be trusted to select a candidate based in his merits as a politician and man - we must all have been seduced by his personality to mindlessly follow him around, despite his A-plus intelligence, well-thought out plans, proven ability to lead and organize, and a few dozen other leadership qualities.

On McCain's count, a running list of Obama's crimes:

He talks about hope too much.

He talks about change but doesn't have real plans (please disregard all his published plans.)

He's too young and "healthy" (today's message from the campaign complains about the fact that Obama expected healthy foods to eat. Dare he!?)

And now...

He's too popular.

Serious accusations, each. Well, I know that after eight years some of these things are hard to recognize in presidential material, but some of us actually think those are, you know, GOOD to have in a candidate. I'm not the most politically savvy, but Obama appears to be practicing DIPLOMACY.

We could use some in our leadership, and McCain, you've shown what we can expect from you.

Obama's speech on national security

Speech (video and text) from the speech Sen. Obama gave recently - pretty powerful stuff.

This comes on the same day that a Wasington Post/ABC poll shows Obama ahead by 8 points.

"Our men and women in uniform have accomplished every mission we have given
them. What's missing in our debate about Iraq - what has been missing since
before the war began - is a discussion of the strategic consequences of Iraq and
its dominance of our foreign policy. This war distracts us from every threat
that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. This war diminishes our
security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the
resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century. By any
measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy
for keeping America safe.

"I am running for President of the United States to lead this country
in a new direction - to seize this moment's promise. Instead of being distracted
from the most pressing threats that we face, I want to overcome them. Instead of
pushing the entire burden of our foreign policy on to the brave men and women of
our military, I want to use all elements of American power to keep us safe, and
prosperous, and free. Instead of alienating ourselves from the world, I want
America - once again - to lead. "

The Iraq situation is only one of many things Obama touches on in this speech - it's worth reading in full. In fact, what we're being distracted from in continuing with Iraq is what he focuses on more:

"For all of our power, America is strongest when we act alongside strong
partners. We faced down fascism with the greatest war-time alliance the world
has ever known. We stood shoulder to shoulder with our NATO allies against the
Soviet threat, and paid a far smaller price for the first Gulf War because we
acted together with a broad coalition. We helped create the United Nations - not
to constrain America's influence, but to amplify it by advancing our values.

"Now is the time for a new era of international cooperation. It's time for
America and Europe to renew our common commitment to face down the threats of
the 21st century just as we did the challenges of the 20th. It's time to
strengthen our partnerships with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the world's
largest democracy - India - to create a stable and prosperous Asia. It's time to
engage China on common interests like climate change, even as we continue to
encourage their shift to a more open and market-based society. It's time to
strengthen NATO by asking more of our allies, while always approaching them with
the respect owed a partner. It's time to reform the United Nations, so that this
imperfect institution can become a more perfect forum to share burdens,
strengthen our leverage, and promote our values. It's time to deepen our
engagement to help resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, so that we help our ally
Israel achieve true and lasting security, while helping Palestinians achieve
their legitimate aspirations for statehood."

Obama Anchorage campaign headquarters opening pics

Follow up from last evening's post about the opening of the Anchorage Barack Obama campaign headquarters. There's Kat Pustay addressing the crowd, sign-ups, and some of the dozens of "I support Barack Obama..." posters.

Obama Alaska campaign kick-off

At the opening of the Obama campaign headquarters this evening, there was plenty of humor and lots of (who'd of guessed?) Obama buzz.

I think there's something really funny going on in my district. At the caucus, when all five million or so of us showed up, we were the dead last district to be able to actually divvy up and vote. We watched several other districts "fan out", and when we finally went up there to vote, it was still chaos (albeit, very fun chaos!) One of the "regular Joes" in the district finally took charge and sorted us all out. Using some very fine charting sensibilities, we were finally organized and all accounted for. More than a few commented, "Man, I'm voting for that guy!"

Tonight, another take-charge organizational situation. Although I'm not sure it was neccessary this time, one of our group (no, not any official capacity) took charge once we were (again) the last group to be gathered together, and split us off into volunteering sections.

We seem to be both slow and control freaks. But really fun!

Other than that, it was nice to hear what the campaign has planned, and why they are focusing on Alaska. They are really making it a battleground state, and judging from those at the event, McCain is really going to have do some fighting if he wants to have a "red" Alaska.

One thing lacking? Native representation!

Where were my Indigenous peeps?! (I promise if you show up, I'll never say that again.)

There really was a noticeable lack of Native people at the event, and I sure hope to see more in the coming months. With over 40,000 right here in Anchorage, we can really be a force in this election. But we need to show up!

I was able to talk to Alaska campaign director Kat Pustay a little bit about the Native turnout. She talked about the rural outreach they're doing, and was pretty encouraging about just what they could do.

I also talked to Liz from OurTime 2008. They're a non-partisan organization really focused on getting people involved, getting registered voters. She was also pretty encouraging to talk to, and mentioned a big effort - as well as Native participants - on their part toward Native Alaska.

In both cases though, there was a cultural gap mentioned, one I hope we can reduce well before election time.


_