Sean Parnell concedes AK House Primary

Rather than go through a recount process, Sean Parnell has conceded the primary election to Rep. Don Young (links in the original):

“If I thought there was anything wrong, inappropriate or unprofessional about the way this election tally was conducted, I would not only call for a recount, I would demand one,” Parnell said. “But that is not the case here.”

Events in the presidential contest may have diminished his incentive to keep fighting for the House seat. With Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin now the GOP‘s vice presidential nominee, Parnell is in position to become governor if the Republican ticket prevails. In a statement, Parnell noted that his current “responsibilities are heightened even more with the exciting possibility” that Palin could become vice president.

I’ll have to admit that since the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate, I have thought that it was less likely that Sean Parnell would ask for a recount.  If Palin ascends to the Vice Presidency, Alaska will need to keep at least one reform-minded leader behind.  And, while this makes it more likely that Democrat Ethan Berkowitz will win in November, he is pro-drilling in ANWR and has to be more ethical than Don Young.

Young up by 239 votes

That’s the latest word from the recount of the Alaska GOP House primary.  From the Washington Post (links in the original):

With the regular, absentee and provisional ballots counted, Rep. Don Young now leads Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in the Alaska House GOP primary by 239 votes. But the race isn’t over quite yet, and Young faces a tough general election even if he does eventually beat Parnell.

[...]

The Anchorage Daily News says that overseas absentee ballots are still being accepted until Wednesday. After that, a state board will review the results, as is standard practice in every Alaska race. The results will likely be certified around Sept. 18. Unlike some states, Alaska does not provide for an automatic recount except in an exact tie. But the loser of a contest or 10 qualified voters can ask for one to be conducted, and if the race’s margin is less than .5 percent, as this one appears certain to be, the state will bear the cost of the recount. Parnell has not said yet whether he would request a recount.

As the article notes, even if Sean Parnell loses the primary, he still has a bright future in Alaska politics, especially if the McCain-Palin ticket wins in November.

I’ll make sure to keep you up to date.

An update on the Alaska House primary

Here’s where it stands:

Alaska State Division of Elections says there are close to 15,000 absentee ballots from the primary election that have arrived as of Tuesday of this week. There are another 12,000 or so questioned ballots.

Hopefully we’ll know the final tally soon!

Parnell vs. Young: What’s next?

I woke up this morning to the disheartening news from Alaska:

Republican Rep. Don Young — whose three and a half decade hold on Alaska’s sole House seat was imperiled by political ethics controversies — holds a razor-thin lead over Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell who ran a strong primary challenge against the embattled congressman.

With 98 percent of the state’s precincts reporting in the House contest, Young led Parnell by a margin of just 145 votes. At one point late in the count, Parnell had held a small lead over Young. That tiny gap, if it holds up in the final results, could permit the trailing candidate to call for a recount. Republican state Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux received the remaining 9 percent of the vote.

I haven’t yet heard if there will be a recount on the vote, but I will have that information as it becomes available.

As far as Gabrielle LeDoux goes, I hope she appreciates what she’s done by staying in a race she couldn’t possibly win.

UPDATE: According to the results, around 150 votes (or 0.16%) now separate Young and Sean Parnell.  I just received an email from the Sean Parnell campaign saying that they are waiting on the absentee ballots to be counted, and that there will be a recount since the difference between the two candidates is below 0.5%.

A nail-biter in Alaska!

As I write this, with 57.8% of precincts Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell leads Rep. Don Young in the GOP House primary by one percentage point!  Hopefully I will wake up tomorrow morning to good news.

You can keep track of the election results here.

In Alaska? Go vote for Sean Parnell!!

If you are an Alaska Republican today is primary day, so make sure to go to the polls and vote for Sean Parnell.  I am confident that Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will relieve kleptocrat Don Young of his post as Alaska’s lone Congressman.

Make sure you help Sean Parnell start his general election race off right by donating to his campaign.

The Salt Lake Tribune misses the point

The Salt Lake City Tribune can’t seem to understand why a Congressman like Chris Cannon got ousted by Jason Chaffetz in the GOP primary (emphasis mine):

A Congressional Quarterly study of partisan votes during the Bush years shows that Rep. Chris Cannon has voted with Republicans 97 percent of the time and supported the president 89 percent of the time, making him the most conservative member of Utah’s delegation.

But maybe not conservative enough. Cannon recently lost the GOP primary in the 3rd District to Jason Chaffetz, who ran as a conservative alternative.

“For some reason his constituents could never focus on how loyal to the party he was, and it created this strange phenomenon with him always having to struggle,” said Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics. “Really because of one issue – immigration – people were able to define him as not being as conservative as the overall data would suggest.”

The problem wasn’t that constituents didn’t know how loyal he was to the Republican Party, it’s that they did know.

The newspaper is equating agreement with President Bush and the Republican Party with conservatism, which any conservative could tell you is not accurate.  Voting for No Child Left Behind meant agreeing with the GOP and President Bush, but this legislation was far from conservative.  The same could be said of Medicare Part D, last summer’s amnesty legislation, and the recent housing bailout.

You can donate to Jason Chaffetz’ campaign here.

Ragnar Danneskjold endorses Sean Parnell

A co-blogger at one of my favorite blogs, The Jawa Report, has endorsed Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in his primary fight against Rep. Don Young (links in the original):

Don Young is one of the worst congressmen in the U.S. House. His massive appetite for earmarks and pork projects, including the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,” is legendary. He is one of only 13 Republicans to vote in favor of ending secret ballots in union elections. He has spent, to date, $1.2 million responding to ongoing federal corruption investigations related to his VECO and Coconut Road dealings.

[...]

Luckily for conservatives (and Republicans), Don Young is being challenged in the primary by Sean Parnell, a young reformer who has been endorsed by National Review, the Club for Growth and Alaska Right-to-Life, among many others.

The choice here, between a pork-o-rama 35-year incumbent under federal investigation and a young conservative reformer, should be pretty easy for anyone who understands that the GOP has serious problems and needs to change its big spending ways and get back to true conservative principles.

This election cycle presents an opportunity for Alaska Republicans to rid themselves of one of their most corrupt politicians. I join Ragnar Danneskjold at the Jawa Report in hoping Alaskans choose ethical governance over incumbency on August 26.

You can donate to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell’s campaign here.

Alaska state legislators back Sean Parnell

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell has picked up four endorsements from the Alaskan interior, which includes Fairbanks, Alaska:

Republican Sens. Gene Therriault and Gary Wilken and Reps. John Coghill and Mike Kelly announced their support for Parnell in a press release put out by the Parnell campaign.

[...]

“I want a fairly conservative Republican in there,” Coghill said.

“Don has such bad ratings in my area. I don’t think he’s been paying attention to the people of Alaska,” Coghill said.

Coghill said he agrees with Young on the major issues, such as allowing energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but disagrees with him on labor issues and other local challenges.

I’ll be the first to say that Rep. Don Young has many votes in his legislative history that would please conservatives.  But when he’s wrong, man is he ever wrong.  His ethical lapses and addiction to pork projects are one of the biggest reasons conservatives across the nation feel disenchanted with the GOP.  Hopefully Sean Parnell can bring honor back to Alaska’s At-Large House seat.

You can donate to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell’s campaign here.  Alaska’s House primary is August 26, 2008.

Alaska Right to Life endorses Parnell

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who is challenging Rep. Don Young in Alaska’s August 26th House primary, picked up a major endorsement yesterday:

Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell picked up the endorsement of the Alaska Right to Life Group Wednesday.

The group says Parnell has been a champion for issues of life, from conception to natural death.

Congressman Don Young’s campaign says Young remains a right to life supporter and says the endorsement of Parnell likely reflects Young’s vote in support of federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

This endorsement speaks to Sean Parnell’s dedication to respecting innocent human life where Rep. Don Young won’t.  It also highlights Sean Parnell’s fiscal conservatism, as embryonic stem-cell research is already privately funded.

You can donate to Sean Parnell’s campaign here.

Primary election results

Well, we tried our hardest, but it appears that all of the three Down the Ticket-sponsored candidates facing primaries today have lost.  Here are the results as of 12:50am Eastern Time.  Sponsored candidates are in Italics, winners in bold.

KS-02
Jim Ryun 49%
Lynn Jenkins 51%

MO-GOV
Sarah Steelman 44.5%
Kenny Hulshof 49.3%

MO-09
Bob Onder 29%
Blaine Luetkemeyer 39.7%
Danie Moore 19.5%

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that this was disheartening news. 

However, there are still many great candidates out there for us to support. 

Next up: Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who has his Alaska GOP House primary on August 26, 2008!  Make sure to DONATE to his campaign or VOLUNTEER!

PRIMARY DAY!

Today is a primary day if you are in Missouri or Kansas. If you are registered in these states, make sure you head to the polls today. Down the Ticket-sponsored candidates include:

Rep. Jim Ryun for Kansas’ 2nd Congressional District

State Treasurer Sarah Steelman for Missouri Governor

State Rep. Dr. Bob Onder for Missouri’s 9th District

Make sure you head out to vote! I’ll have results posted as they become available.

Dr. Bob Onder stands firm against illegal immigration

Dr. Bob Onder is a new addition here at Down the Ticket.  The state representative is one of the many Republicans seeking to replace Rep. Kenny Hulshof as the U.S. Representative from Missouri’s 9th District.  One of the things that drew me to his campaign was his strong stance against amnesty for illegal aliens (video at the link):

[Dr. Bob] Onder said on Monday that he defined amnesty as “allowing illegal aliens to participate in federal guest worker programs without first returning their native country.”

“Starting from his own premise that we need illegal immigrants for our workforce, Blaine has proposed a program allowing illegal aliens to obtain work visas with the hopes of eventually joining a guest worker program or becoming U.S. citizens,” said Onder spokesman Jay Barnes. “Turning a blind eye toward lawbreakers and inviting illegal immigrants to take jobs when our economy is struggling is not consistent with the values of the people of the Ninth District.”

Make sure you head to the link to see a very, shall we say, nuanced position on amnesty from one of Dr. Onder’s opponents.  It is important that we have Congressman like Dr. Bob Onder in Congress over the next four years to protect us from more presidential plans (by a President Obama or a President McCain) to grant amnesty.

If you are in Missouri’s 9th District, make sure you vote for Dr. Bob Onder in today’s GOP primary!!

You can also donate to Dr. Bob Onder’s campaign here.

Is corn the key to winning the Missouri GOP primary?

Sarah Steelman is counting on Missouri’s recent legislation backing ethanol mandates to gain an advantage on Rep. Kenny Hulshof in Tuesdays GOP gubernatorial primary:

In recent weeks, Steelman has played up one key difference between the candidates. Blunt and the Republican-led Missouri Legislature pushed through a requirement that nearly every gallon of gasoline contain 10 percent ethanol, a biofuel made of corn. Hulshof, who is also a corn farmer, supports the mandate. Steelman initially supported the requirement but now says government mandates often drive up prices.

The injection of the ethanol issue late in the campaign has everything to do with Missouri’s political geography. To win a statewide GOP primary, a candidate must snare a majority of votes from the St. Louis and Kansas City suburbs, the rural middle of the state and southern Missouri, which includes the vast Lake of the Ozarks recreation area.

Hulshof is best known in his northeast and central Missouri congressional district, which includes many corn farmers. Steelman’s base of support is southern Missouri, where there are more farmers raising livestock than growing crops who are paying high prices for corn in part because of the demand created by the increase in ethanol production.

Ethanol is wasteful, and diverts resources from needy populations while causing feed prices to rise on livestock farms.  If this article says anything, it’s that Sarah Steelman understands what it means to be fiscally responsible, while Rep. Kenny Hulshof is just going through the motions.

You can donate to Sarah Steelman’s campaign here.  If you a in Missouri, make sure to head out to the polls Tuesday and vote for Sarah Steelman.

Missouri’s Gubernatorial Primary is in Two Days

State Treasurer Sarah Steelman is hitting the pavement this weekend in one last push for victory:

“There’s some major issues that we’ve been talking about like repealing the ethanol mandate to get those gas and food prices down, cracking down on illegal immigration, tax relief.,” says Steelman. “Those are the issues that I’m talking about with voters and it’s resonating with them.”

The primary election is Tuesday. The Greene County clerk wants to remind everyone that you still have one business day left to cast an absentee ballot. That means, if you cannot make it to the polls on Tuesday, you can cast an early vote. The deadline to do so in person is 5 p.m. Monday at the Greene County Clerk’s Office in Springfield.

If you’re in Missouri, make sure you head to the polls on Tuesday and vote for Sarah Steelman for governor.

You can still donate to her campaign here.