Slobber And Spittle (Archive)

At this hour, with about 45 percent of the precincts reporting, here is the vote count for Alaska's At Large Congressional District:

Candidate	Votes	Percent
Diane Benson	13,211	36.56
Ethan Berkowitz	20,166	55.80

As expected, the turnout was pretty small. Compare it to the turnout in Darcy Burner's race for an idea. Summer weather may be to blame there, as it was in Washington. There's also a party convention going on this week.

Neither this TV station nor any others I could find have made a projection yet, but the outcome seems predictable.

It seems unlikely that Diane will come back from this deficit. Thanks for trying, Diane, and congratulations to Ethan Berkowitz.

UPDATE: I neglected to create a link to the [un]official vote totals page. At this hour (1AM PDT), with 70 percent of precincts reporting, it's not looking any better.

In a little less than a week, Alaskans will be voting in their primary election. Among the candidates is Slobber and Spittle Blue's Diane Benson, who is running for Alaska's at large Representative position. In a previous article on Benson, I'd made a reference to her opponent, Ethan Berkowitz:

Diane's in a very tough primary race with a Rahm Emmanuel-style challenger who has been receiving lots of backing from the Democratic establishment. That alone is enough to make me want someone else to win, but there's another reason to support her.

Update On Diane Benson

In addition to having had some difficulty with antecedents of pronouns, that paragraph didn't describe what it was about Ethan Berkowitz that evoked such disinterest in me. Today, in Progressive Alaska, Philip Munger made that clear in the course of an interview with Eric Griffey:

Eric: I just wanted to get your insight on how Berkowitz is perceived by those on the left. My lazy google searches have taught me that those on the right have cast him as a uber liberal, and many on the left think he's too conservative.

Phil: I'm pretty far left. I'd say Ethan Berkowitz isn't any further to the left than I am on anything.

On the issue of addressing the medical care crisis, he is perhaps the least liberal. Here is his solution to the crisis:

Expanding medical record-keeping technology to reduce administrative costs and improve safety through information sharing

Promote preventative care and healthy living choices

Expanding the federal SCHIP program to cover a wider range of children

Allow for small business insurance pooling.

I've heard him make statements in forums and debates that sound more hopeful, from my point of view, but they were quite vague past being promises to somehow make medical care affordable for everyone. Back in January, in a discussion I had with Ethan, I asked how his approach would help young people who graduate out of their parents' medical plans, and who have pre-existing disabilities or chronic medical problems. These people are often just plain uninsurable under the present system, and I told Ethan his plans don't seem to address these hundreds of thousands of young people. He told me he would get back to me on how to fix it. He hasn't.

I've been highly critical, as have been national liberal figures Howie Klein and Jeff Cohen, of Rahm Emanuel's PAC's list of donors.

[links from the original]

In addition to checking out Philip's article, you might want to check out the link under "his solution" above. In that article, Philip compares the answers the two have given on various policy issues.

Ethan Berkowitz is the kind of politician we already have far too many of in DC. If you think so too, please head on over to Slobber And Spittle Blue, or to Diane's website and donate.

Slobber and Spittle Blue candidate Diane Benson sent out an e-mail on Wednesday requesting help with a TV ad she wants to show:

This ad is critical to our success.

Please help us fund this TV spot by making a contribution today. A $50 donation allows us to play the ad once and a $100 contribution gets the ad up during primetime hours. We need $10,000 to fully fund our buy and any contribution is a big help! You can make your donation at www.bensonforcongress.com .

Of course, you can also contribute via Slobber And Spittle Blue.

Diane Benson is an original. She's a Klingit (one of the folks we used to call Eskimos) who's been deeply involved in her community much of her life. As I wrote a few months ago:

I've never met Diane Benson, but she sounds like an amazing person. She spent her twenties driving cement trucks during the Alaska Pipeline project. She has been a community organizer and volunteer for most of her adult life, and she's the mother of a wounded Iraq veteran. The link about her son is to a video of her telling the story of her son's recovery[.]

The Donna Edwards Of The North?

Diane's in a very tough primary race with a Rahm Emmanuel-style challenger who has been receiving lots of backing from the Democratic establishment. That alone is enough to make me want someone else to win, but there's another reason to support her.

All the candidates on Slobber And Spittle Blue have demonstrated through their actions that they are the kind of people who will go to Washington to work for us. They have taken progressive stands unpopular with Democratic leadership. They have motivations beyond just a vague "doing a better job" kind of posturing. While some may make me regret supporting them, most won't. They're good people, and they deserve our support.

So please give what you can today.

UPDATE: Clarified the kind of stands SnS Blue candidates have taken. I suppose one could say that the Blue Dog Democrats have taken unpopular stands, too.

Philip Munger, who comments frequently over at Firedoglake as "Edward Teller", wrote about Slobber And Spittle Blue candidate Diane Benson yesterday:

Which brings me to reason three [why PM is happy about Donna Edwards' victory]. As I've written here before, I've been volunteering for Diane Benson since the summer of 2006. Although I respect Jake Metcalfe and have a lot of respect for Ethan Berkowitz, I don't see them as agents of change for our future to the degree Benson could be. For several reasons - most of them outside the details of these three fine Alaskans' platforms.

MD-04 - Donna Edwards - The Most Important Potomac Primary Victory for Alaska Politics

I've never met Diane Benson, but she sounds like an amazing person. She spent her twenties driving cement trucks during the Alaska Pipeline project. She has been a community organizer and volunteer for most of her adult life, and she's the mother of a wounded Iraq veteran. The link about her son is to a video of her telling the story of her son's recovery:

Diane Benson, of Chugiak, Alaska, uses her skills as a Klingit writer, poet and storyteller to bring us into her life as her son grows up and leaves for Iraq (where he is severely wounded). We fly with her as she becomes the Mom for our wounded soldiers as they are transported back for medical care. She tells the story that is left out of our newspapers and TV. This is a powerful presentation told from the open heart of a mother.

Video:: Diane Benson: Mom of a Severely Wounded Soldier

I want more people like Diane Benson in Congress - people who live the life that we do, and who have a stake in what the government does.

If you do, too, I'd like to suggest that you drop some spare change in Diane's ActBlue account. In Alaska, a little campaign money will go a long way. So far, ActBlue has raised about $8,000 for her campaign. If we can double that by election time, it might be enough. It will certainly go a long way.

That's the good news. The bad news is that Alaska's primary isn't until August. Benson looks to have a strong challenger in the primary, and if she wins there won't be much time to campaign and gather financing.

So, use the convenient form to the left to donate directly, or follow the link. Remember, a little goes a long way here.