United States House of Representatives election in Alaska, 2008

The 2008 congressional election in Alaska will be held on November 4, 2008 to determine who will represent the state of Alaska in the United States House of Representatives. Alaska has one seat in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; whomever is elected will serve in the 111th Congress from January 4, 2009 until January 3, 2011. The election coincides with the 2008 U.S. presidential election. The primary election was held August 26, 2008. [ [http://www.elections.alaska.gov/ Alaska Division of Elections] ]

Alaska's At-large congressional district covers the entire state, and has been represented by Republican Don Young since 1973. He is being challenged by Democratic nominee Ethan Berkowitz and Alaskan Independence candidate Don Wright.

Berkowitz won the Democratic primary against Diane E. Benson and Jake Metcalfe. The Republican primary was so close that Young and Sean Parnell needed to wait for the overseas absentee ballots, which had until September 10 2008 to arrive and be counted. Young held a narrow lead of 239 votes after counting the other absentee and questioned ballots on September 62008. [Sutton, Anne [http://www.adn.com/politics/story/518498.html Young's slim lead grows a bit more in Alaska House race] "Anchorage Daily News", September 6, 2008] Final results on September 18 showed Young winning by 304 votes, and Parnell announced that he would not seek a recount. [Anne Sutton, [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j_Jou0BRNSWPmplUuT8qwccyVvggD939B4HO1 "No recount in GOP race for Alaska's House seat"] , Associated Press, September 18, 2008.]

According to the 9/15-17 "Research 2000" poll for Daily Kos, Berkowitz leads Young in the General election by a 53%-39% margin, with a ±4% margin of error. [ [http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/18/151020/455/154/602937 AK-Sen, AK-AL: No "Palin bump" for House and Senate races] kos, "Daily Kos", September 18, 2008] After the Primary, CQ Politics changed its forecast to 'Leans Democratic'. [ [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=district-AK-AL CQ Politics Forecast] ] "The Cook Political Report" ranks it 'Republican Toss Up' and "The Rothenberg Political Report" rates it 'Toss-Up/Tilt Republican'.

Candidates

Alaskan Independence

* Don Wright

Democratic

*Ethan Berkowitz, nominee — Former Minority Leader, Alaska House of Representatives
*Diane E. Benson — 2006 nominee, 2002 Green Party nominee for Governor
*Jake Metcalfe — Former chair of the Alaska Democratic Party. He suspended his campaign amid allegations that his political adviser, Bill Scannell, had purchased domain names — containing Berkowitz's name — that re-directed users to a mock blog, and a San Francisco LGBT Web site. [ [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j_Jou0BRNSWPmplUuT8qwccyVvggD90H4IM80 Web site flap prompts Alaska Democrat to give up House race] "AP", May 7, 2008]

Republican

*Don Young, nominee — Incumbent Congressman
*Gabrielle LeDoux — State Representative
*Sean Parnell — Lieutenant Governor of Alaska

Polling

Results

Primary elections

The primary election was held on August 26, 2008. [ [http://soaelections.gci.net/data/results.html GEMS elections results] ]

Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Ethan Berkowitz
votes = 39,784
percentage = 53.17%
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Diane Benson
votes = 28,347
percentage = 37.89%
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Alaskan Independence Party
candidate = Don Wright
votes = 6,690
percentage = 8.94%
change = Election box majority
votes = 11,437
percentage = 15.28%
change = Election box turnout
votes = 74,821
percentage =
change =
* Don Wright (Alaskan Independence Party) qualified for the ballot.Fact|date=August 2008

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Don Young
votes = 48,195
percentage = 45.47%
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Sean Parnell
votes = 47,891
percentage = 45.19%
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Gabrielle LeDoux
votes = 9,901
percentage = 9.34%
change = Election box plurality
votes = 304
percentage = 0.28%
change = Election box turnout
votes = 105,987
percentage =
change =

General election

Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Ethan Berkowitz
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Don Young
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Alaskan Independence Party
candidate = Don Wright
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box turnout
votes =
percentage =
change =

References

* [http://www.cookpolitical.com/charts/house/competitive.php 2008 Competitive House Race Chart] "The Cook Political Report", September 18, 2008.
* [http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2008/07/2008-house-ratings_29.html 2008 House Ratings] "The Rothenberg Political Report", July 19, 2008

External links

* [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=district-AK-AL Race ranking and details] from CQ Politics
* [http://www.votesmart.org/election_congress_state.php?state_id=AK&go33.x=14&go33.y=13 U.S. Congress candidates for Alaska] at Project Vote Smart
* [http://www.2008racetracker.com/page/Alaska Alaska U.S. House Races] from "2008 Race Tracker"
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/races/election.php?state=AK Campaign contributions for Alaska congressional races] from OpenSecrets.org
* [http://www.pollster.com/polls/ak/08-ak-al-ge-yvb.php Young (R-i) vs Berkowitz (D)] graph of collected poll results from "Pollster.com"
* [http://www.adn.com/election/ 2008 Election] from The Anchorage Daily News newspaper
*"Official campaign websites"
** [http://www.donyoung08.com/ Don Young for Congress] , Republican Incumbent
** [http://www.parnellforcongress.org/home.html Sean Parnell for Congress] . Republican
** [http://www.voteledoux.com Gabrielle LeDoux for Congress] , Republican
** [http://www.bensonforcongress.com/ Diane Benson for Congress] , Democratic
** [http://www.ethanberkowitz.com/ Ethan Berkowitz for Congress] , Democratic
** [http://www.jake2008.com/artman/publish/index.shtml Jake Metcalfe for Congress] , Democraticsequence
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