crosscut.com : Alaska

Heart attack on McCain

Crosscut — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:21:01 PDT

I saw this coming. Last night after John McCain's GOP convention speech, the hall was blasted with the sounds of Seattle band Heart's rocker "Barracuda," which became the convention's theme music for Sarah "Barracuda" Palin (Barracuda was a high-school nickname). I figured an objection would be raised.

Sausage Links, Postman stops ringing edition

Crosscut — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:00:01 PDT

It's a sad day for state journalism. Seattle Times chief political reporter David Postman, the author of the ever-popular Postman on Politics, announced today that after some 14 years at the paper, he will leave to join Vulcan Inc., a company founded and run by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The Capitol press corps appears to be devastated. I sure am. ...

'Me' for president

Crosscut — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:00:01 PDT

How we yearn to see ourselves on a presidential ticket, why John McCain wants a "soul mate," and what the Sarah Palin pick says about the battle for the soul of the GOP.

Sarah Palin: the liberal voter's worst nightmare

Crosscut — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:00:01 PDT

A longtime Republican enumerates the many ways by which Gov. Sarah Palin could become the most beloved national figure since Ronald Reagan.

Sausage Links, 'Limbaugh with lipstick' edition

Crosscut — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:59:01 PDT

Sarah Palin has a zinger for you. And you. And me. The Alaska governor-turned-Trophy Vice-turned-bulldog with lipstick sent a fiery pot-shot-filled message to the nation and the media with her speech yesterday at the Republican National Convention. I believe it went something like this. ...

A classic evisceration speech by the running mate

Crosscut — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:00:01 PDT

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin proved herself worthy of at least one thing with a rousing convention speech: She can fill the traditional role of attacker.

This election is a referendum on Obama

Crosscut — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:00:01 PDT

Here's my take on why McCain picked Palin.

His first goal had to be to kill the potential lift Obama would get after the Democratic National Convention. There are only a few inflection points in a campaign where numbers can really shift. A big VP pick from the Republicans had the magnitude to change the story of the election. Picking Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge or Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman wouldn't have changed the story.

Northwest national candidates through the ages

Crosscut — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:00:01 PDT

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is hardly the first from this corner of the country to run for one of the highest offices, but those who made it to the general election are relatively few.

The case for Sarah Palin

Crosscut — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:01 PDT

The Alaska governor is dead center in the mainstream of middle class American life, argues a conservative Crosscut contributor.

About Sarah Palin: an e-mail from Wasilla

Crosscut — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:00:01 PDT

A suburban Anchorage homemaker and activist — who once did battle with the Alaska governor when Palin was mayor — recounts what she knows of Palin's history.

Palin wouldn't be the first Northwest secessionist on a national ticket

Crosscut — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:45:01 PDT

Alaska governor and John McCain running mate pick Sarah Palin is raising eyebrows over her ties to the Alaska Independence Party. The AIP wants to put Alaska statehood up for a public vote. Some party members would like Alaska to secede from the United States. Whether Palin was once a party member, supporter, or merely sympathetic to the states' rights cause, she would not be the first pro-secession politician from the Northwest to run for vice president on a major party ticket. It has happened before.

No post-convention bounce for the Democrats

Crosscut — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:00:01 PDT

After a successful convention in Denver, Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden watched their poll numbers stay the same. Meantime, a weird weekend for news and weather clouds the prospects for Republicans at their convention this week.

The high price of Sarah Palin's candidacy

Crosscut — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:21:01 PDT

The out-of-wedlock pregnancy of Sarah Palin's teenage daughter is not news by itself. Many American families have faced the same situation.

What it implies about Palin, however, is not flattering.

Whassup with Wasilla

Crosscut — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:47:01 PDT

The day after a former Miss Wasilla was picked by Sen. John McCain as his running mate, I realized I'd been there. In 2004, I went to Alaska to see the start of the Iditarod. That's the grueling 1,150-mile sled dog race that starts in south central Alaska and ends in Nome on the Bering Sea. Often referred to as "The Last Great Race on Earth," it takes anywhere from 10-17 days for the teams of 12-16 dogs and their mushers.

A hurricane blows away bad news

Crosscut — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:48:01 PDT

Gustav came ashore in Louisiana as a diminished Category 2 hurricane, but it's a fat Category 5 gift to the GOP. Let us count the ways.

A Seattle gold rush house is endangered

Crosscut — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 05:00:01 PDT

There's little question that Seattle was put on the map by the Klondike Gold Rush. The man credited with setting off that rush, George W. Carmack, spent the last dozen years of his life living in a big Colonial Revival home in what is now Seattle's Central District. The National Park Service says the George Carmack House is fit for the National Register, but it may be too late. A for sale banner hangs on it today touting the property as a 4,800-foot lot ripe for redevelopment.

Despite 'Troopergate' and other issues, huge popularity in Alaska

Crosscut — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:00:01 PDT

Gov. Sarah Palin has registered 80 percent favorable ratings in polls of likely voters there — though before the latest latest details of a mini-scandal came to light.

Pundit reactions to Palin

Crosscut — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:16:01 PDT

Some opinions about Republican presidential candidate John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. ...

The faux maverick's sidekick

Crosscut — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:00:01 PDT

Sen. John McCain's got a perception problem, and Gov. Sarah Palin is the solution.

Sausage Links, 'who is Sarah Palin?' edition

Crosscut — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:00:01 PDT

I've fielded several phone calls this morning about John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. The questions: "So, does Palin have enough experience? Isn't she going through her own political scandal right now? Hasn't she also been fighting against Republican corruption in her own state? How will PUMAs — the unofficial group of soured HIllary Clinton supporters ("Party Unity My Ass") — react to having a woman within striking distance of the glass ceiling? Is she Dan Quayle with sex appeal or Hillary sans Bill's baggage? Is it really McCain's birthday today? Could she beat Barack in basketball? And hasn't she been widely named America's Sexiest Governor?" They'll all fair questions. Here's some answers.