The right wing in Alaska tends to splinter, and party label tends to carry much less weight then it does down south. The cheap and easy way to look at the state shows the southeast rainforest as the liberal core, Fairbanks and the rest of the interior as largely conservative, and Anchorage, with 2/3's of the state's population, as the battleground between them. But that ignores the fact that the right wing in Alaska has it's own divisions, fractures, and nebulous structures.
I grew up in Alaska, spent 12 years in Juneau before moving back to the bay area last year. I volunteered on various campaigns, doing everything from it/tech work to canvassing door to door, and having the opportunity to contribute to many amazing Democrats like Tony Knowles, Fran Ulmer and Kim Elton. The remarkable thing is that aside from Elton (who represents a fairly Democratic-leaning region of the state) none of them should have been competitive. And that is where we shall begin.
Even the members of Alaska's right that are most analogous to the typical Republican have a few key differences. Most noticeable is a rather libertarian shift in terms of individual rights without the corresponding disdain of government. They also aren't afraid to tax oil companies. The oil companies almost solely fund state government. There is substantially 0 state tax liability for the average Alaskan. No state income tax, no state sales tax, most Boroughs dont have a sales tax, only some parts of the state pay property taxes (dependent on Borough). In fact, because the oil companies are only allowed to lease land, not buy it, and that land is state owned, every man woman and child in Alaska gets a cut of the profits in the form of the Permanent Fund Dividend, a yearly check based on 5 year averaged returns on investments from oil revenue. Since most of the governments job involves getting services to incredibly remote locations and timing the length of commercial fishing seasons down to the second based on real-time catch returns, these people are used to intimate governmental contact. This is not 'small government' territory. Alaskan's use government as a service.
They also use Party as a service. Gov. Hickle, a former Republican Governor, hopped onto the AIP platform (yes, that AIP) for a successful return to the Governor's Mansion in 1990. A group that supported a revised plebiscite on the full range of options offered to Alaskans under the argument that the original was flawed, all the while arguing that the correct position on said plebiscite was secession, held the Governorship of a US state from 1990 till 1994.
That same AIP splintered the conservative vote in 1994, enabling Democratic Anchorage Mayor Tony Knowles to capture the Governorship with a rather astonishingly low plurality of 41.1%. But as shown, Alaskans don't place too much weight on party, and are rather pragmatic. Knowles proved a remarkably able administrator for the state. Then end result was that in 1998, a Republican meltdown that resulted in their chosen candidate bailing out after ballots were printed and having to run the republican replacement as a write in allowed Knowles to charge to... a relatively more cushy 51%. The 2nd place winner? 'Write in', with 19.79%. This was also the time the strangely named Republican Moderate Party started to gain votes (and eventually a lawmaker) as it became the self styled non-religious republican party.
The Alaskan right briefly united behind the 20+ year Senator Murkowski, forever doomed by Ted Steven's to remain the 'junior Senator from Alaska'. Frank Murkowski was elected Governor in 2002. But Murkowski got off to a rocky start. He appointed his daughter, who had survived the primary before the uncontested election to a state-level legislative seat by less then 75 votes, to the senate and the press all discovered the word nepotism. A long, slow slide began that ended with the jet. Murkowski really wanted a jet. REALLY REALLY. He asked the Legislature for one. They said no. So he put out a ballot measure and asked the people. They said no. So he asked a state slush fund for handling various unbudgeted needs. And it was a big old pile of money who didnt say anything, so Frank grabbed it and bought a jet.
The result of this was that Murkowski went down in flames. Not only did he lose reelection, but he came in third. In his own primary. Not only were there other people Alaskan's preferred to be Governor, but at least two of them were in his own party.
Knowles reenters a couple years before the jet. Challenging Lisa Murkowski at the end of the unfinished Senate term she was appointed to, the Murkowski name still had some weight in 2004, and Murkowski is indeed moderate on many social issues, including pro-choice. A relatively close campaign, but not an especially close one either. But now at the end of four disastrous years, and standing to face the challenge of a Natural Gas pipeline, Tony is talked into coming back.
The Gas line is something everyone here should understand as a Good Thing, so long as we keep pumping oil. They pump out natural gas with the oil, but having nowhere for it to go, it gets burned off. Natural gas is clean, but it's not angel farts. Its still toxic petrochemicals being burned off for nothing in the arctic. This would prevent that from happening in such a delicate place, while also turning a nice profit for the state. Allowing it to be shipped to those who need it (house heating, T Boone Pickens fleet of supercars, whatever).
With anger at Murkowski high, and the gas line standing on the horizon, it becomes the focal point, and Knowles record negotiating with big oil puts him on cloud 9. Conservatives and conservative groups all line up to endorse Knowles. They often couch it in 'Just for four years. Let him get the gas line in place and then we'll get someone else in.' That was along the lines of what the Editorial Board for the Voice of the Times said, a conservative group with a dedicated page in the Anchorage Daily News due to long-standing publishing agreement following the demise of the conservative Anchorage Times.
Like most elections in Alaska, This was not a two person race. Palin emerged from the Republican primary having topped two other candidates and running, as far as you could see, on a 'throw Murkowski out on his ass' platform. Joining Knowles and Palin as top-level candidates was Andrew Halcro. Halcro is the consummate nerd, and I say that lovingly as a fellow geek. A former Republican lawmaker now independent, busily crunched spreadsheets as a business owner, and had a 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' type faith in the goodness of the voter. He was willing to argue long-term, quote figures, debate you on merits, and trust in people to look at all the information and come to conclusions based in reality. Honestly, seeing Knowles and Halcro debate made me think about the old politics we hear about, where people could disagree and not think the other hated America.
Palin, meanwhile, danced around the gas line. The FBI had recently raided the house of Ben Stevens, president of the Alaska State Senate and son of Ted Stevens. Palin instead focused on ethics reform, 'throw the crooks out'. And on election day, Knowles got bit by the the girl who took him to the dance. A majority found the gas line to be the most important issue to the campaign, but roughly 10% chose Halcro, leaving Palin to skate to a plurality win.
The aforementioned Andrew Halcro became, roughly, the only person in Alaska to dislike Palin once she embarked on a quest to seemingly throw her entire party in jail for corruption. She nailed Republicans left and right, generating indictments and, so far, at least one jail sentence against a State lawmaker. But Halcro sensed something under the 93% approval ratings. He started a blog critical of Palin, and eventually uncovered Troopergate.
And that, folks, is the convoluted mess that brought us Sarah Palin.