AK-AL Nine Points and Gaining Fast
Fri Oct 27, 2006 at 07:33:15 AM PDT
A new
poll (Young 43%, Benson 34%) shows
Diane Benson within 9 points of Don Young, with Young well bellow 50%.
In 1990 John Devens almost took out Young.
On election night I heard a phrase over and over again that made me physically ill: "...If only we had known that it was going to be this close..."
Only a few days left where a contribution can help.
Elstun Lausen
describes election night 1990.
On election night, the results were startlingly close. Early returns actually showed John Devens ahead of Young. At Election Central the jaws dropped. The insiders and the smart money guys shook their heads in disbelief. At the end of the day, the military vote and the Bush saved Young's hide. John Devens wound up garnering 91,677 votes to Don Young's 99,003 votes, 48% to 52%.
On election night I heard a phrase over and over again that made me physically ill: "...If only we had known that it was going to be this close..."
For want of $100,000 or even $50,000 to launch a mailing or a last minute television push, John Devens might have won that race.
This is a real race people. In my door-to-door canvasing I saw results similar to the poll. The response has been fairly evenly split between the people really excited about Benson (and excited about getting rid of Young), those that haven't decided, and those that wouldn't say (probably reluctant Young supporters). Only a couple were adamant Young supporters.
Diane is very strong and outspoken on the issues that concern us. Phil Munger writes an excellent description of Benson and why she decided to run.
In 1959, Diane Benson's mother was pregnant and had tuberculosis, still a common health problem among Alaska Natives, so Diane came into the world in the TB unit at a hospital in Yakima, Washington, near the vital Native community there, rather than Sitka, Alaska, home of her ancestral Tlingit clan.
Diane Benson is a quintessential Alaskan. She has had to struggle against the odds throughout life, but the hardships have only served to draw out inner strengths that now make her one of the hardiest and most vibrant of the group of challengers cornering the slimiest political machine in the history of our Republic.
After high school, Diane Benson went to work on the construction of the Alaska pipeline, driving trucks for Teamster Local 959. While she earned a union living, and raised a family, Benson yearned to be an artist. Whenever possible, she returned to school, eventually receiving a BA in Theater, with a minor in Justice, and then an MFA in Creative Writing. Shes written for newspapers, journals and Native publications. She's participated in theater in Alaska, and has had roles in films, most notably the international award-winning animated film Sacagawea, Disney's White Fang, and the recently released Alaska film, Kusah HaaKwaan. Northern Stars, the talent agency Diane founded, has helped young Alaska artists find satisfying work. Her poetry is gaining notice, and Benson's current role in her own dramatic script personifying Alaska feminist and civil rights pioneer Elizabeth Peratrovich has been acclaimed locally as "stunning."
Diane, like many Alaskans, became disenchanted with the leadership of both major parties in the late 1980s, around the time of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. She was one of the charter members of the Green Party of Alaska, the strongest Green organization in the US. She was the party's gubernatorial candidate in 2002. But increasing despair over the state of our union during the early stages of the Iraq War and growing cognitive dissonance within her own family drew her back to the Democratic Party.
Latseen Benson, Diane's son, entered the Army after high school, becoming a trooper in the elite 101st Airborne Division. After deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, Latseen's enlistment ended in late October of 2005. But the so-called stop-loss program kept him in uniform for another deployment.
In late September 2005, I listened to Diane Benson deliver the major speech at an anti-war rally in central Anchorage. In a blustery speech on a blustery fall day, she blew the crowd away. Her worry about Latseen's upcoming involuntary extension showed no more than her concern for our country itself. She was animated as she castigated the flawed policies and inept actions of the White House and Pentagon.
Weeks later, Latseen's squad was surprised near Baghdad. He lost most of both legs and an arm to a roadside bomb.
...
read on for more...
Basically, when the state Democratic party failed to put up a credible candidate against Young, Diane decided to run.
Benson supporters are determined and motivated. We will show up to the polls. Young's supporters are complacent, so complacent that the Anchorage Daily News explained why they were only printing letters in support of Benson.
We can't print what we don't get. We haven't received any letters supporting Don Young. We have been getting letters supporting his Democrat opponent Diane Benson regularly, and we've only run a sampling of those letters, not all of them.
Let's not repeat 1990. Let's not let this one get away!! Let's get rid of one of dengre's Abramoff 65!
Let's support an amazing and outspoken candidate! Let's support Diane Benson
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