Good news from the State of Alaska! Hugely unpopular Republican Governor Frank Murkowski has
announced that he's running again!
Republican Gov. Frank H. Murkowski of Alaska announced today that he would seek a second term, ending months of speculation. The announcement comes just days before the state's June 1 filing deadline.
"He has a lot of unfinished business to do," said Murkowski's deputy press secretary Will Vandergriff, adding that the governor hopes to improve education and state services in a second term.
Alaska's political establishment had been waiting on Murkowski's announcement, which was originally expected in January, for months. He is seen as vulnerable despite the strong Republican leanings of Alaska's largely conservative electorate -- and his own track record, which included a 22-year U.S. Senate tenure prior to his 2002 election as governor. Murkowski's term in Juneau has been shaky, leaving him with weak public approval ratings.
First of all, he has to get through the Republican primary, which will be no easy race for him.
The delay in the announcement did not spare Murkowski any competition -- two Republicans have already announced plans to run against him in the Aug. 22 primary. On the Democratic side, there are strong rumblings that former Gov. Tony Knowles may seek a comeback by running for the office he won in 1994 and 1998. Knowles retained his high profile by staging a competitive 2004 Senate bid that he lost by 3 percentage points to the current governor's daughter, appointed Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
I haven't heard which way Knowles is leaning, but I would love to see make his comeback after that fluke in 2002. In the meantime, our current candidayes are Ethan Berkowitz (nice website) and Eric Croft. If Murkowski loses the primary, I don't know what are chances would be, but I would sure love to see the state painted blue!