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A New Generation of Republicans in Alaska
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Jul 31, 2008 09:42am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - New York Times |
| News Date | Thursday, July 31, 2008 03:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Published: July 31, 2008
ANCHORAGE — For the first time in four decades, politics in Alaska is a brand-new game for both Republicans and Democrats because of the indictment of Senator Ted Stevens, the state’s longtime Republican patriarch.
Gov. Sarah Palin was a political upstart and Mr. Stevens was still the powerful, irascible senior senator from Alaska, delivering billions of federal dollars to his home state, when federal agents raided the offices of six state legislators two years ago.
One of them was Ben Stevens, the senator’s son and at the time the president of the State Senate. The expansive corruption investigation, and the Stevens family connection, raised two staggering possibilities: that the elder Mr. Stevens could be implicated, and that the economic and political stability he had provided since he literally helped put the state on the map 49 years ago could crumble.
Change came quickly. Several months after the raids, in the fall of 2006, Ms. Palin, a suburban mayor, was elected governor as she challenged her own party leaders and campaigned on a promise of government reform. In that same election, Mr. Stevens lost much of his influence as Democrats in Washington took control of the Senate.
Now, after three Republican state lawmakers have been convicted of corruption, more face trial and Mr. Stevens has been indicted as he seeks re-election, it is suddenly Ms. Palin and a new generation of fellow Republicans to whom the party could be clinging to salvage control of a state they have long dominated. |
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