Republicans win Alaska's Senate Seat

Sullivan lead holds in Alaska U.S. Senate race; Begich won't concede

Excerpt:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan appeared to grab an insurmountable lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Begich early Wednesday, with all of Alaska's precincts reporting. With results from all 441 precincts counted, Sullivan led 49 percent to 45 percent. The margin remained essentially the same from the first returns early in the evening. Speaking just after midnight at his election night party in a packed ballroom at the Hotel Captain Cook, Sullivan praised his supporters and told them: “We are taking back our country!” “We’re still going to be respectful of the process,” Sullivan said. But he nonetheless touted Republicans’ successes in Senate races across the country Tuesday, and to hearty cheers, he proclaimed that the party had sidelined Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate. “We’re going to take back America, the land that we love,” Sullivan said, as the crowd erupted in chants of “USA! USA!” Shortly before midnight, Begich’s campaign issued a statement saying he wouldn't be commenting on the race until all the rural Alaska precincts were counted.

Comment: Official Election Results

If it's Sarah Palin ...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Is McCain's VP Pick: Source

Excerpts:

According to a Republican strategist, Palin is the nominee, though McCain's campaign has not comfirmed this.

With an announcement scheduled in Dayton, Ohio, an associate of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the governor had been informed he is not McCain's pick.

....

At 44, Palin is younger than Obama and, like McCain, she calls herself a maverick.

A Gulfstream IV from Anchorage, Alaska, flew into Middletown Regional Airport in Butler County near Cincinnati about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, said Rich Bevis, airport manager.

He said several people came off the plane, including a woman and two teens, but there was no confirmation of who was aboard.

"They were pretty much hustled off. They came right down the ramp, jumped in some vans here and off they went," Bevis said. "It was all hush, hush."

Comment: My prediction early this year was a McCain / Pawlenty ticket. If it's Sarah Palin, and in just about an hour we will know one way or another, I am somewhat disappointed. Would McCain be picking her just because she is a woman? To try to peel off some of the Hillary supporters? I didn't think Geraldine Ferraro really had the depth of qualification to be the Vice President (1984). Mondale picked her to energize the electorate. Oh well ... those are my thoughts.

Update: Source: Sarah Palin is John McCain's pick for vice president

Anchorage: a cool summer

Gloomy summer headed toward infamy

Right now the so-called summer of '08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees.

That unhappy record was set in 1970, when we only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.

This year, however -- with the summer more than half over -- there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. And that's with just a month of potential "balmy" days remaining and the forecast looking gloomy.

National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Albanese, a storm warning coordinator for Alaska, says the outlook is for Anchorage to remain cool and cloudy through the rest of July.

Comment: I could live there ... I love cool weather. But Northern Minnesota would be more of a climate that would interest me (Eg Hibbing)