"People always underestimate Alaska," says Sen. Mark Begich.
Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) didn't need to be asked -- when it was clear Joe Miller would be the Republican Senate nominee, he picked up the phone and started raising money for Scott McAdams. While Democratic staffers are heading to Alaska, the national party hasn't paid McAdams much attention -- yet....
When Begich jumped into the race to unseat a longtime senator in 2008, the line from national Democrats was, "Alaska? Good luck with that," Begich told TPM in an interview. In fact, all signs pointed to him losing on election night two years ago. "The establishment always says it's a state that can't be won, and when I lost election night we were written off," Begich said. But after all the votes were counted, Begich was the next senator from Alaska....
"McAdams is authentic and as a former mayor, well, with all due respect to my friends in the Senate, we don't need any more lawyers in the Senate," Begich said. Miller is a lawyer who has never held public office.
McAdams definitely has work to do to get his campaign fully up to steam after his opponent's surprise primary win over incumbent Lisa Murkowski. He had a rough interview with RealClearPolitics in which he was hesitant to jump in to some policy issues.
On the other hand, you've got Joe Miller who should maybe be showing a bit of hesitation before spouting off his extreme positions: that Obama is leading America into socialism, that all power has to be returned to the states, that Social Security should be abolished, just for starting positions. Makes McAdams' reticence to spout off uninformed policy positions look downright professional.