Monday, October 30, 2006

Hello, everybody. No time to title my latest blog, because with the November 7 elections near, there's lots of ground to cover.

First up...it took the Boston Red Sox 86 years to win their World Series in 2004 and the Chicago White Sox 88 years for theirs last year, but for the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday, they clinched this year's World Series title for the first time since...1982?! Almost a quarter of a century?!?! Whether it was predictable or not, they did it in their new home field.

But I guess in economic terms, St. Louis won because they're the home of Budweiser, while Detroit has been in trouble because in recent years, the U.S. automakers lost lots of sales and revenue to Toyota, Honda, and others. Case in point: A few weeks ago, Ford announced they were discontinuing the Taurus after 20 years.

So congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals, the 2006 World Series champions. I hope the people there celebrating their win weren't drunk on too many Budweisers.

And now that it's over (and I thought it was a pretty boring World Series with no anti-climatic drama), the attention now shifts to November 7. That's the day whether or not the Potomac River flowing through Washington will be turning blue under the Democrats, and the day when we'll be seeing either Tony Knowles, Sarah Palin, or Andrew Halcro usher in a whole new Alaska.

But thanks to the way the Republicans have been running things (or make that ruining things), we've been treated to without a doubt the nastiest political ads we've ever seen or heard or read since 1968 (when America, still reeling from the Robert Kennedy assassination, opted to give Richard Nixon another chance at the White House)! One ad that has been making lots of news was one targeting at Democratic candidate Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee. The spot -- which pokes fun of Ford frolicking at the Playboy Mansion though he has never been there himself -- had to be pulled because of its racist overtones.

Here in Alaska, while Knowles and Palin have been exchanging verbal fisticuffs, independent gubernatorial candidate Andrew Halcro has been keeping quiet. But like I said a while back, this could be the sexiest race for Alaska's top job we've ever had. You've got the rugged looks of Knowles, the sex appeal of Palin, and the clean-cut boyish attraction of Halcro. Of course, the one thing all the candidates have on their minds is the gas pipeline. If elected, Knowles wants proposals on his desk by the end of January.

Speaking of which, Ballot Measure 2 which is about taxing for the pipeline has been getting lots of support...for its defeat. All three gubernatorial candidates are against it, as well as several Chambers of Commerces and the oil companies. But don't be surprised if it passes.

On the Congress side, we've got Republican incumbent Don Young vs. Democrat Diane Benson. With winds of change in Washington blowing the Democrats' way, we feel that 33 years of service is just enough for Young. Upsets do happen in these elections, and Benson could be one of them.

And of course, you've got lots of state races as far as who stays and who goes is concerned in Juneau. Since this blog is being read around the world, I'm not going to touch on that.

But...we've got one week to go, and things have kicked up lots of notches as we're in the final push. Believe me, ladies and gentlemen: As we've witnessed earlier this year in Canada, the Grand Old Party could be the Gone Old Party after November 7! With that, so long!