Alaska

     The senate race in Alaska has attracted a lot of attention because this race will likely determine if the democratic party will hold the majority in the senate or if the republicans will take its place.The race is between three parties although only the candidates of the major parties are shown to have a chance at winning this race. The race started of rather excitedly with an incumbent as the candidate for the democratic party and candidate for the libertarian party getting chosen without campaigning and then dropping out of the race via Facebook.

Candidates and their history

     The candidate for the democratic party, Mark Begich, was the first democratic to be elected to the Senate in Alaska since 1974. He has been the senator from 2008 to present time and the mayor, chair, and assembly man of the city of anchorage during various times in his life. 

     The candidate for the republican party, Dan Sullivan, was the commissioner of natural resources and acting attorney general for the state of Alaska. Also unlike Mark Begich he has gone to college and has a bachelors in economics.

Problems Regarding the Election

     There are many problems regarding this election. The biggest two being that Mark Begich is a democrat and voted for Obama Care against the wishes of the majority and that Dan Sullivan was born in Ohio and therefore is not considered completely a part of Alaska as can be seen in the following ad campaign.

                                                
     There are also problems regarding the voting process itself. Although there have been a higher percentage of people voting early in the early ballots, mostly the younger and the otherwise wouldn't have bothered voters, and as can be seen in Image 1 Alaska has a history of inaccurate poll accuracy with the actual margins differing from average poll margins by as much as 8 points, never having gotten below 3.3 % error. Also Alaskans have received letters stating theirs and 11 other peoples voting history as well as who they voted for. This act was sponsored by the Alaska State Voter Program and the Opportunity Alliance PAC whose main sponsor decided to support the Republicans.

Image 1

Issues Regarding the Election

     This may be the first election that the rural population plays a key role in. Both candidates have realized that without at least some of the votes from the rural population it is impossible to win the election which is why Mark Begich decided to go to the fishery debates and although Dan Sullivan had decided to abstain from the event however once a columnist wrote that no candidate who skipped the debate had ever won an election he decided to go, but wasn't able to get a table.

     However many people are in favor of Dan Sullivan just because they hate Obama and his policies. Mark Begich while he was in office passed only two pieces of legislation one being the much hated Obama care and the other, at least to most people, not important at all.

     The campaigning ads are also playing an important part in this election. One of the topics had to do with Dan Sullivan and him, according to Mark Begich, allowing the sentence for a prisoner to be to short allowing the prisoner to commit even more crimes however this move backfired on Mark Begich as he got complaints from the victims family members to take down the ad as it could sway the judge's vote on the issue also Dan Sullivan had refuted with the fact that at the time of the sentencing he wasn't in office yet. Another strike against Mark Begich came when he put up the following ad that said that he worked as a great team with Lisa Murkoski, the other senator, but she had then written Mark Begich a letter to take the ad down as she did not support his statements.

                                              

Results

Even though Dan Sullivan has a short residency in Alaska, Mark Begich's "failed" years as a senator and his relations with President Obama,both being part of the democratic party, may have placed Dan Sullivan ahead by a few points in this race. Not to mention that Alaska is known to vote Republican in the presidential election, ever since the 1960s, and you have a race that has a good chance of leaning towards the sides of the republicans.

Works Citations:

• Thiessen, M. (2014, August 30). 5 things to know about Alaska's midterm election. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• Morrow, W. (2014, October 30). Early voter turnout compares favorably to last midterms. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• Schwing, E. (2014, October 21). In a Mid-Term Election Year, Are Ballot Measures, Candidates Enough to Draw Alaska Native Voters? Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• Cohn, N. (2014, August 20). Alaska Might Be More Friendly to Democrats Than It Appears. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• D'Oro, R. (2014, October 30). Group exposes voting histories of Alaska residents. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• Riccardi, N. (2014, October 6). Alaska's Begich battles midterm partisan undertow. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• 2014 Election Forecast & Predictions. (2014, October 31). Retrieved November 3, 2014, from http://www.wtsp.com/pages/interactives/elections-forecast-2014/#/race/senate-ak0
• McBeath, J. (2014, October 29). 2014 Midterms: Key Issues in the Alaska Senate Race. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• Diamond, J. (2014, October 28). Alaskans getting shamed into voting by mailer. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• Enten, H., & Silver, N. (2014, October 28). Why The Senate Polling In Alaska Is Making Us Sweat. Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• Alaska Election Results 2014: Dates, Analysis, Full Midterm Overview, Complete Updates. (2014, October 29). Retrieved November 3, 2014.
• United States Senate elections in Alaska, 2014. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2014, from http://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_elections_in_Alaska,_2014