AK: Worth Staying Up To See
By Christopher Lee
Alaska won't report the results of its Super Tuesday party caucuses until close to midnight EST, but the vote offers something for political junkies that might be worth staying up late to see.
Two lesser-known candidates have a chance to make a better than average showing here -- former Alaska senator Mike Gravel (D) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
For Gravel, who has barely registered in primary contests to date, today offers a chance to get in front of the voters who know him best. Still, he'll need an unprecedented showing to pick up any of the state's 18 Democratic delegates. Candidates must win at least 15 percent of the vote to earn any delegates at all.
Paul could benefit from Alaska residents' libertarian streak. The state -- with an economy heavily dependent on oil, gas, minerals and timber, much of it on federally controlled land -- is generally wary of Washington's long reach. At stake are 26 delegates to the Republican National Convention that will be awarded based on the percentage of the vote won by each candidate.
Posted at 12:43 PM ET on Feb 5, 2008
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Posted by: knowles1 | February 5, 2008 3:02 PM
interesting to note . . . But I think I can wait till Wednesday morning to see how many delegates Gravel and Paul get.
Posted by: HokiePaul | February 5, 2008 1:13 PM
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For us Alaskans, the contest won't be any different than most places. While there are more pragmatic and respectful dems that can identify with Barack, there are still many strong female supporters of Hillary. Gravel won't even be a blip, he was a DC politician from another era. Watch the Paul vote for the repubs though.