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About
THE BLOG--HISTORY
"Blue Oasis" began in 2005 in its Blogger format (now an archive) and became possibly the first Alaska Blog on Progressive Politics. At the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis was honored to represent Alaska as the state blog.
Transition--Community Blog
In September 2008, Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis moved to a Soapblox Community Blog format. Readers can become full participants by registering on the blog to comment and write "diaries." Diary titles appear on the right sidebar for folks to read and provide comments. Blog editors may choose to move some of these diaries to the front page.
While this Community was formed specifically with Alaska in mind, all "friends of Alaska" are welcome as members!
**Note about registering** I have the setting turned off so you don't have to wait for an email to diary or comment...you should be able to do so right away!
**Note about comments** To comment on a story, click on the heading and then look for the "comment bar" at the bottom (it's light grey, I can't seem to change it). I believe the font color NOW permits you to see the "post comment" text.
YOUR BLOGMISTRESS
My name is Linda Kellen Biegel and I am a former 15-year Federal employee. Thirteen of those years were spent working for the US Army Corps of Engineers. I am also semi-retired from the Alaska music scene (singer, sound tech, stage manager, logistics).
When the blog was chosen to represent Alaska in the DNCC State Blogger Pool at the Denver Convention, I attended with the help of Alaska Real blogmistress, Writing Raven and my daughter Morrigan. On August 29th, one day after Barack Obama's inspiring speech at Invesco Field , my life took another turn as it did for all Alaska bloggers when Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen to be John McCain's VP running mate. Since then, I've either assisted or have been interviewed by media from the UK, Italy, Australia and Germany as well as national media outlets such as Wall Street Journal, NY Times, ABC Good Morning America's Kate Snow, National Journal, Dallas Morning News, LA Times, and NPR.
Presently, I work full-time as a freelance writer, PR, event coordinator, community organizer, wife to computer programmer Josh and mother to 11-year-old Morrigan. Our family especially enjoys our summers in Alaska where we get to subsistence set-net fish Sockeye salmon as well as halibut fish/whalewatch in the family's homemade aluminum boat, "The Neverdone" (when it's working). We reside in Anchorage, Alaska.
Proud Member of These Organizations:
Veterans Aviation Outreach: Win A Plane! Buy a ticket by March 2009!
****UPDATE****Mayor Senator-elect Mark Begich released this statement:
I am humbled and honored to serve Alaska in the United States Senate," Begich said. "It's been an incredible journey getting to this point, and I appreciate the support and commitment of the thousands of Alaskans who have brought us to this day. I can't wait to get to work fighting for Alaskan families.
****UPDATE 2****What happens next?
From Bethany Lesser at the Begich Campaign:
At this point, the majority of the total ballots have been counted. Mark Begich is up by 3,724 (Begich - 150,728, Stevens - 147,004), according to the Division of Elections. Approximately 2,500 overseas ballots remain outstanding, but Stevens would need more votes than that to change the outcome of the Alaska Senate Race.
As part of the standard process for the Division of Election's certification process, the State Review Board is also meeting today to conduct a hand count of 40 randomly selected precincts to confirm totals from the machine counts. These precincts represent at least 5 percent of each district's voters from the general election on Election Day. They will also hand count absentee and question ballots from 2 districts each for verification as well.
Target certification will be the week of December 1, as soon as the State Review Board has completed their review the director certifies the election.
With the margin of 3,724 votes, the likelihood of a recount has been reduced, since it would have to be paid for by the Stevens campaign. The only time there is an automatic recount is when there is a tie. If the final vote is within 0.5 percent, a recount can be requested, and the state will cover the bill. If the final vote is more than 0.5 percent (+/- 1,600), a campaign can request a recount, but would have to pay for it. A recount may be applied for within 5 days of certification, by either the defeated candidate or 10 members of the defeated candidate's party. If a recount application is filed immediately, the Division of Elections must commence within five days of receipt of an application. A recount is done by machine in Juneau for the entire state, and would take approximately 3 - 5 days.
*****************************************
John Vezina and Meg Simonian with the Begich Campaign, alongside Randy Reudrich with the Republican Party waiting for the questioned ballot count
I left the Division of Elections over an hour ago and there were just small pockets of ballots to count. It looks like they finished as they posted the totals on the website!
Here is the just-recieved email from Campaign Manager, Leslie Riddle:
Dear Friends,
What a long, strange trip it's been.
It is almost over--there aren't enough votes out there to change the outcome. Whew. We are up 3724 votes. The only thing left are straggler absentees from overseas.
THANK YOU ALL for your help, support, money, time, love, angst, legal advice, and whatever else you gave!
What's next? Planning for Senator-Elect Begich starts right away. Keep checking our website for updates. www.begich.com.
Do we still need money? Yes. We've had to send staff to watch the counts in Anchorage, Nome, Juneau, Fairbanks, and the Mat-Su. We're still employing our team of lawyers to protect us in case the R's decide to ask for a recount (yes, they can ask for it--they'd have to pay if the vote count difference is greater than .5%). You get it...we're not completely done here. www.begich.com.
Thanks everyone!
Traa laaa laa laa laa
Leslie
CONGRATULATIONS MR. MAYOR SENATOR-ELECT!
(Hint: If you want to congratulate him in person, you'll have to do it at the Anchorage Assembly Meeting, starting at 5:00 PM this evening. Tonight is budget night so it's a good session to attend.)
Further discussion of vote counting below the fold...
But, did Sarah's many media miss-steps during her time on the McCain/Palin ticket give rise to larger problems? Will the "new Sarah" playing to (and remembering the criticisms from) a national audience sacrifice the needs of the state to promote the illusion of her (very selective) newfound fiscal conservatism?
As I mentioned yesterday, I respect the fact that Senator Lisa Murkowski was a participant in the education summit (since our Governor couldn't bother) and her comments are what spurred this post. Per the Anchorage Daily News:
Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski convened the Saturday hearing. She asked state and national education experts what the federal government could do to help fix the problem, even though the federal government has little input into public education, an arena largely left to the states, and, in Alaska, mostly to local school districts. (The big exception to this is the controversial federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, which went into effect in 2002 and was meant to raise educational attainment for all students through testing.)
Regarding NCLB, that was one promise that soon-to-be-Senator Mark Begich will (hopefully) be able to take care of when he joins the Democratic majority in the Senate--to make Alaska exempt.
However, there is a lot of help we could get from both the Federal AND State Government in the form of grants...to continue and expand programs that are working and to initiate programs that can help show Alaskan kids where education can take them while exposing them to the wonders of the state they live in.
Back in October, I was hip-deep in fifth graders when I chaparoned for the 2008 Sea Train trip from Anchorage to the Seward SeaLife Center. I can't say enough about how educational and amazing it was for these kids. My daughter's school is a Title 1 school, which means that a certain percentage are economically challenged and eligible for free school lunches. When the teacher asked the kids how many had ever been on a train, almost no hands went up. How many had been to the SeaLife Center? Only about half raised their hands. How many had even been to Seward? Only a couple more than half had their hands up. The rest of these kids had never seen one of the most famous parts of their state...The Kenai Peninsula...only 2 1/2 hours away.
There was an important education summit in Anchorage this week. I thought this YouTube excerpt from the Matt Lauer interview would highlight how well our Governor's family acts as a roll model for education in Alaska:
Notice how Piper emphasizes that she missed "A LOT" of school and that she's having a "REALLY HARD" time catching up.
So, it seems that there wasn't a tutor along. It also seems that they weren't doing any schoolwork on that bus or plane. Would it have been that much trouble for the parents to set it up? They were able to squeeze a country band in (The John Rich Band).
Also, for a kid to make that kind of statement on national television, it sure sounded like she was asking for help.
Yet, everyone completely glossed over her comment and moved on to discussing 2012. Between a pregnant Bristol, her high-school drop-out baby's-daddy and poor Piper, it seems that the Governor's kids and grandkid may end up as statistics.
A third article appeared in today's Anchorage Daily News dicussing Alaska Dropout Prevention Summit put on by America's Promise. While I've given ADN a (deserved) hard time in the past, they do a good job discussing education issues in Alaska and this series of articles is no exception. The summit was organized, even extended to a third day, in order to deal with the dire position of Alaska's educational system. Our dropout rate is 8%--double the rest of the country. Over 38% of our ninth graders will not get a high school diploma in the next 10 years. Alaska ranks dead last (50th) in the number of ninth graders who will get a bachelor's degree in the next 10 years.
Senator Lisa Murkowski convened the third day of the summit even though the Feds don't have a lot to do with education (other than the pesky No Child Left Behind)...that falls to the states. I give a lot of credit to Murkowski for being there, since our own Governor...who has EVERYTHING to do with education in Alaska... couldn't be bothered to show up. She was definitely invited:
Governor Palin has been invited to address the Education Summit.
CC from KUDO 1080 (Alaska's Progressive Station) was in agony Thursday after she had a tooth fixed. Kathy Phillips filled in for her on the air but something hit her so hard that in spite of the pain and the cotton in her mouth, she felt she had to say something on the show. She called in and asked a simple question:
Did Governor Palin did anything to commemorate Veteran's Day?
Well, did she?
We know that she was giving interviews hither and yon to Matt Lauer on the Today Show from her Wasilla home and she gushed to Greta from Fox News from Wasilla as well. She talked to CNN, and any number of news sources before, during and after her trip to Florida, not to mention her sad excuse of a press conference and speech at the Republican Governor's Convention...but did she bother to participate in any ceremonies, much less mention it, anywhere?
Answer: as far as we know...nope...no attendance at any memorial services...not a mention on any of the vast number of media interviews ranging from Saturday to Thurday...not even an acknowledgement on the State website...zip...zero...nada.
And yet, her son Track serves in the military in Iraq...which she mentioned constantly in campaign speeches. And one of her favorite lines to use on protesters (ironically, while security was dragging them out) was: "I hope those protesters have the courage and honor to give veterans thanks for their right to protest!"
Looks like Palin should be looking for some of that "courage and honor" herself.
**UPDATE** I knew there was a proclamation on October 31st, but it was merely a name-change from "Veteran's Day" to "Veteran's and Remembrance Day."
I don't consider a lackey making a proclamation on October 31st changing the name of the holiday the equivalent of recognizing the veterans on the actual holiday.
That was the last update of the day and I'm guessing the numbers went down a little bit because Fairbanks and Mat Su Valley finished their counting.
Exciting news in Fairbanks...Republican Representative Mike Kelley (District 7) is only ahead of Democrat Karl Kassel by one vote! So, there will probably be at least one recount!
Remember, overseas absentee ballots can arrive up through Nov. 19th!
Per my phone calls to the Division of Elections:
Region 1: Juneau is done for the day but will be doing their final count (we hope) on Tuesday Nov. 18th.
Region 2: Mat Su Valley--DONE
Anchorage will be finishing their count on Tuesday Nov. 18th as well.
Region 3: Prince William Sound--DONE
Region 4: Aleutians, Western AK, North Slope--DONE
About 25,000 votes left to count between Anchorage and Juneau!
I need more cayenne for my nails!
************UPDATED NUMBERS*****************
BEGICH NOW AHEAD BY 1061 VOTES!!!!!
********************************************
I know there is a count going on today in Regions 1, 3 and 4. However it looks like they may be waiting to update until: folks are done with the count or all regions are in or all of us bite our fingernails AND toenails down to the quick!
Until then, here's something to keep your brain busy...and the good news is at the bottom!
WHO: LGBT and straight citizens who support Equal Rights
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008; at 12 p.m. Noon
WHERE: 550 W 7th AVE, ATWOOD Building
FAIRBANKS
WHAT: Prop. 8 Protest - Equal Rights
WHO: LGBT and straight citizens who support Equal Rights
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008; at 9:30 a.m.
WHERE: 800 Cushman Street, CITY HALL
When you read the Alaska Constitution, the anti-gay marriage clause ("marriage will be between one man and one woman") just seems like an unnatural growth...like a tumor...on the otherwise most forward-thinking state constitution in the country.
The importance of fighting for our friends in California is that we can't let those tumors take hold anywhere else. We can help more states refuse to put laws on the books that actually LIMIT RIGHTS rather than protect them, so that perhaps in the not-so-distant future, we in Alaska will be able to figure out how to remove the tumor from our own Constitution.
As a married woman, I would be happy to change the nature of our Alaska State "marriage license" to that of a "civil union" obtainable by anyone who wishes a legal commitment to share a household (like a business license). Let's keep the "marriage" part in the churches where it belongs.
However, that's not today. Tomorrow, we march for those who finally achieved equal rights and saw it ripped away from them by a selfish, ignorant electorate.
Anchorage and Fairbanks Fight the H8, Protest Prop 8
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and straight citizens will take to the streets of ANCHORAGE and FAIRBANKS on Saturday Nov. 15, 2008 to protest the passage of Proposition 8, California's anti-gay marriage amendment, and the lack of LGBT equal rights in Alaska.
I love Rachel Maddow...I really do. However, in the case of the Alaska election she was definitely getting her information from folks who were not directly hands-on with the process. The Begich Campaign has had boots-on-the-ground since long before Election Day. They have had people all over the state the entire time. No one was more frustrated by the early conspiracy-theory panic than they were...because the folks who were spreading it weren't talking to them. It also seemed like there were folks out there with a lack-of-understanding of Alaska's unique challenges, transportation and otherwise, who turned this into something it was not. At the very least, they sounded the alarm bell rather prematurely.
There never were hidden ballots, no "lost ballots" or "found ballots." There never was a "mystery" as to where the ballots were. It was taking a long time because:
a) 1/3 of ALL ballots are either early vote, absentee or questioned...that is an unheard of number in Alaska until this year. That fact is NOT A DANGER SIGNAL EITHER! The Begich Campaign was in every village, every city pushing early and absentee voting right along with the Obama Campaign! Guess what? It worked!
b) This year, there is a new procedure where EVERY BALLOT had to be double checked to make sure no one accidentally voted twice...absentee and on Election Day. Why was that procedure established? Because 26 people during the primary voted twice and they wanted to close that loophole. Who is the one that motivated this new procedure? The Democratic Party!
c) Due to the Bush Administration's war on unions and desperate desire to privatize mail delivery under one of his corporate buddies, the amazingly efficient US Postal Service has had their budget repeatedly whacked as of late. As a result...and because of the outrageous cost of aircraft fuel in Alaska...they have had to cut back on mail deliveries to Rural Alaska. Since that's how most of their ballots travel, we've had to wait.
There were some people especially worried about the Diebold machines and the GEMS tabulator...with legitimate concerns from past Alaska elections and problems in the lower-48. However, I was absolutely stunned that (to my knowledge) NONE of these people who were worried showed up at the absentee ballot counting at Division of Elections so they could actually look at the the tapes first-hand from each district count as they were coming out of the machines. The procedure was as wide-open as they could allow without danger of exposing privacy information. Media was allowed to film everything except (understandably) the individual ballots close-up. The openness of the Department of Elections was very different from two years ago under pageant queen Whitney Brewster and then Lt. Governor Loren "The Undertaker" Leman.
The ironic and entertaining part was that Republicans were the ones baffled by the results. As we'd look at each tape, we'd see McCain/Palin win easily in the Republican-leaning districts, yet in the majority of them, Stevens would lose to Begich. Why they were suprised that folks would vote cross-party to avoid electing a felon is amazing. What it did for me was renew my faith in Alaskans.
Mayor (and hopefully soon-to-be Senator) Begich's appearance on Rachel Maddow was well timed, as we still have another nail-biting 5 days to go. While not discouraging vigilence, his reassurances have gone a long way to dispell some of the fears of shell-shocked politicos, a Palin/Stevens-weary public and my favorite Rhodes scholar television journalist.
I just got this in my email from Bethany Lesser, Democratic Party and special assistant to the Begich Campaign. It should answer all of the questions you've all been asking! :-D
------------------------------------------------
We are cautiously optimistic about the outcome of the Election. More than 59,000 ballots were counted yesterday, and Mark Begich is now up by 814 votes. Included in yesterday's ballots were conservative areas like the Mat-Su Valley (home of Governor Palin), South Anchorage (including the hillside and Girdwood - home of Senator Stevens), and the Kenai Peninsula . Of the districts not counted on Wednesday, Begich won all of them on Election Day (for full disclosure, these are regions that have smaller populations).
There are several things worth noting about the outstanding ballots. Generally, question (provisional) ballots lean slightly Democratic, and it appears the majority of question ballots will be included. For the most part, the absentee ballots that have not been counted were cast after Senator Stevens' felony conviction. While Republicans often assert the military votes usually go Republican, that is not necessarily the case in Alaska . Not only did Begich carry the military base during his run for Anchorage Mayor, but on Election Day, Begich won Elmendorf Air Force Base, Fort Richardson , and Fort Wainwright . The majority of voters in Alaska are independents, unaffiliated or nonpartisan. While Republicans often say that these voters will lean Republican, we have to remember, this isn't just any Election where independent voters are following past trends. It's not every election that the incumbent U.S. Senator was recently convicted in federal court. While we expect the margin could narrow as additional votes are counted, we are optimistic that Begich will end up on top.
Answers to your questions:
What's left to be counted?
Around 12 percent of the ballots remain outstanding. There are 25,789 early votes and absentee ballots remaining plus 14,932 question ballots, for a total of 40,721 uncounted ballots. This number could still increase slightly because ballots mailed on Election Day are accepted through Friday domestically and Wednesday, November 19 overseas.
What is the timing for the rest of the ballot counting?
The Wasilla regional office will count all remaining absentee at 1pm and questioned ballots at 8am on Friday.
The Nome regional office will count all remaining absentee and questioned ballots on Friday at 8am.
The Juneau regional office will count the remaining 2 districts of questioned ballots on Friday at 1pm. Complete the absentee count on Tuesday at 9am.
The Fairbanks regional office will count questioned ballots on Friday and possibly some absentee at 11am. If absentee are not counted or completed, another count will be scheduled for Monday or Tuesday.
The Anchorage regional office will count the remaining absentee and questioned ballots next Tuesday at 10am.
Looking through the window as DoE employees count Anchorage absentee ballots
Watching paint dry...that's what it's like looking on through a window as people count early and absentee ballots. However, it's probably the most important example there is of our Alaska Democracy in action!
Each Dept. of Election worker doing the counting goes through one state house district at a time, grabbing stacks of ballots in huge, white envelopes (frequently, there are more than one...district 28 had four). The counter completes the district than turns the tape that's running on their machine into the supervisor sitting at a tall table. The results are checked and then two tapes are run of each district's and brought to the door...one for the Republican representative and one for the Democratic rep.
District 19 gave Begich 185! / More questioned ballots arriving / Made her smile! / Winning candidate Chris Tuck!
The drama happens outside of the counting room among candidates and/or their representatives who have their noses pressed up against the glass like a kid at Christmas. As the tapes are brought out, they grab it excitedly and then, with cell phone in hand, run into the other room to call their respective offices with the news. Sometimes, new campaign workers come to relieve the others or keep them company, as Begich people kept coming in and out while John Vezina (Begich's Finance Director) stayed there like a permanent fixture). At other times, like when District 19 Republican candidate Bob Roses saw that the absentee count had him down a further seven votes (the early vote knocked him farther down as well) it's just time to leave and he and his campaign manager walked out.
I showed up in the afternoon when they were already finished counting the 9,500 early votes and the Begich folks were bursting with optimism. They had gone from a 3,500 to a 700 vote deficit behind Ted Stevens. Considering there were still another 80,000 votes to go, we all couldn't help but feel good about what was happening. Even David Shurtleff from the Berkowitz Campaign was positive, even though Ethan wasn't gaining enough votes to provide a lot of hope for a complete turnaround.
Palin's been taking shots at blogger for weeks now. However, she first lobbed this granade during an interview with Anchorage shock-jocks Bob and Mark:
Then, it continued yesterday with Palin's Fox interview:
According to the Bob and Mark interview:
"And then, of course, in the world of the blogosphere where so much is based on...where they allow for a hard news source...again, like you're suggesting, from an anonymous blog somewhere...some kid in his pajamas sitting in his parent's basement down on his computer gossipin' or just what's being typed in a blog and then they use that as a hard news source. That does not bode well for the state of journalism today."
Palin wishes there was something:
"...I could do about that to help too because I have great respect for what journalism is supposed to represent and that is a cornerstone of our democracy. They provide the checks and balances that our elected officials and the electorate need. So that's gotta be cleaned up for the sake of reporters and all those in media."
First off, Sarah, I'm no kid (I'm a year older than you), I do blog in my pajamas sometimes but I live with my husband and child.
I just wanted to let folks know that I haven't been taking a break from the blog on purpose. The problem is that I've been suffering from a flare-up of either gout or arthritis in my right hand for the last several days. Typing (like right now) is really, really, REALLY painful.
I figured that my regular posters have been taking a bit of an after-election break right now and I completely understand that. However, I'd love to hear from you when you are ready. Also, I know there are a few of you who have wanted to post but have been holding back. I ALWAYS want folks to share their posts with us but now would REALLY be a good time!
Thanks!
Linda (the woman with the microwaved heating-pad on her hand)
What an election: the joy and amazement of Obama's victory, followed by the heart-breaking passage of Prop 8 eliminating same-sex marriage in California, and the uncertainty of the Alaska Congressional races. The country moves forward with Hope and Change, but Alaska may be stuck with Ted and Don, and Californians betrayed their own.
The fight for marriage equality will continue. Lawsuits have been filed to block Prop 8, and legal groups are preparing to defend the 18,000 same-sex marriages that were performed in California.
The backlash against California's new ban on gay and lesbian marriage intensified over the weekend, with thousands of people gathering around the state in dozens of protests. Gays and lesbians will not stay silent while the Religious Right continues to take away our civil rights.
The momentum is spreading across the country. Join The Impact is planning a nationwide protest against Prop 8, organizing simultaneous rallies on the steps of City Halls all over the country from Mobile, Alabama to Laramie, Wyoming on Saturday, November 15th at 10:30 a.m. PST/1:30 p.m. EST.
This protest is a rally against the passage of California's Prop 8, Arizona's Prop 102 and Florida's Prop 2, all bans on gay marriage, and against the new Arkansas Adoption Ban, which was designed in part to prevent gay and lesbian couples from adopting children.
The birth of a new gay rights movement -- the civil rights movement of the 21st Century -- is unfolding before our eyes.
She had on a very nice black dress and necklace while stirring the family's moose chili and cooking their moose cheese dogs...not props, they swear. Piper Palin was also wearing an apron and running around taking drink orders for the media. I figure she was practicing for her future career in the service industries. She's missed so much school lately (and let's face it, education does NOT seem to be a family value) that might be all she's qualified to do when she grows up.
Right off the bat, Sean Cockerham asked the question I've wanted to ask and her answer left my jaw on the floor and steam coming out of my ears.
Sean:One of the things that came up during the campaign was that you charged the State per diem for time spent here in Wasilla. Is that something that you are going to continue to do.
Gov. Palin:Oh we've always followed the law and fully disclosed all that. The choice there in many months of the Juneau mansion being replumbed and all the improvements being made in the infrastructure of the Juneau house...well, we weren't going to be there anyway. It would have cost the State more to do what other governors had done and that is either charge the State for hotel rooms or the State rents you an apartment, like they did for Governor Murkowski. We said "No, we just won't sell our house," knowing that we're going to spend quite a bit of time here especially those months where the remodels were taking place in the Governor's mansion. We would disclose my per diem, we wouldn't try to hide it. As long as this is about full disclosure, not trying to take anything from the State, just trying to do my job. Part of my job is with the First Family...having them with me and some of these events. I'm going to continue to do my job and my family is going to continue to be a part of it.
Later on in the interview, when asked about troopergate and those people who protested her, she responded, "It's done! It's over! People need to move on!"
Yup, you heard it, that's a Palin throw-down. That's equivalent of Palin saying: "I dare you to touch me now that Rasmusson says that 64% of Republicans NATIONALLY want me to be their candidate in 2012!"
WE WIN, AGAIN!!!!!!
Stumble It!
