Alaska's incumbent Republican Senator Ted Stevens has been in the Senate since 1968, but he's in the fight of his life this year against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. On October 27, Stevens was convicted in Federal court on seven counts for failing to file required reports on gifts he had received: Anchorage Daily News Stevens Coverage.
The two are (October 8) neck and neck, but Stevens appears to have momentum. Here are the polling results from Pollster.com (click to see a bigger version):
Stevens has a good record on opposing trade barriers, but a relatively poor one on opposing subsidies. Here's the Cato Institute summary. In the Cato figure each axis represents an index that goes from 0% to 100%. The higher an "X" is along the vertical axis the greater the opposition to subsidies, the further an "X" is to the right the greater the opposition to trade barriers:
Stevens is up against Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city. Begich's father was an Alaska congressman from 1970 to 1972. He and House Majority Leader Hale Boggs died when their plane disappeared on a flight over the Gulf of Alaska in 1972. They were never found.
Trade hasn't been a big issue in this race. Steven's web site has little or nothing to say about it.
Begich's web site notes that "The global economy affects Alaska more than ever. Mark Begich is ready to lead Alaska in this economy, creating new opportunities for Alaska families and communities." He proposes to do this through investments in infrastructure, education, energy development, and resesarch: Jobs & the Economy.
His website does have a Fair Trade link, which leads to this:
NAFTA has not worked as predicted, costing an estimated 1 million American jobs. NAFTA, CAFTA and the bilateral free trade agreements negotiated by the Bush administration have helped big business while hurting middle class Americans. Mark believes fair trade policies should include meaningful and fully enforceable consumer, labor, environmental and human rights protections. He favors a tax code that rewards companies for creating jobs in America, not that take those jobs abroad. International trade can be good for Americans, and is a vital part of Alaska’s economy, but it needs to serve middle class families, not just multi-national corporations.
Edited on Oct 28 to note conviction.
Comments