Embattled Sen. Begich's Secret Weapon: Alaska

By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press, San Antonio Express-News: World
Wed, 08/20/2014 - 12:52am

[...] as anyone with a television knows, he rode a snowmobile in subzero temperatures in the Arctic, speaking into a camera about fighting the Obama administration to help secure offshore drilling permits. The two-pronged message puts the freshman senator in a unique position to benefit from this conservative state's strong nonpartisan streak, despite its overwhelming votes against Obama in 2008 and 2012. To defeat him, Republicans will have to convince voters that it's bad for the country for Democrats to control the Senate — the GOP needs to net six seats to win control of the chamber — but also that Begich is bad for Alaska. The Republican National Committee, which has established a field presence here, is seeking to cast the race as a referendum on Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. While Republicans battled it out in a three-way primary, Begich — who faced no real opposition — spent the past eight months solidifying what was already a well-polished image as a native son, talking up his accomplishments and touting his deep roots. In Anchorage, where he grew up and once served in the assembly and as mayor, his campaign signs sat in some yards next to the independent candidate for governor and those supportive of oil tax cuts put in place by the Republican-controlled state Legislature last year. In Washington, Begich joined the Democratic Party's Senate leadership team — he is the fifth-ranking Democratic senator — and voted with his party to approve Obama's health care overhaul. [...] he opposed Democratic pushes for expanded gun sale background checks and his party's support for keeping the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge off-limits to oil and gas drilling. "Tell me how having a Democrat in the Senate, working with a Democrat administration, has benefited the state of Alaska," Alaska's senior senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, said in vowing to help get a Republican elected.

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