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Home Front: Politix
Donald Trump endorses Sarah Palin in Alaska's special congressional race
2022-04-05
[NYPOST] Former President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
 has endorsed former Alaska Gov. Sarah Mama Grizzly Palin
... the babe libs love to hate ...
 in her bid for Alaska’s congressional seat just days after she announced her candidacy.

"Sarah Palin is tough and smart and will never back down, and I am proud to give her my Complete and Total Endorsement," Trump said in a Sunday night statement, Fox News reported.

Trump also encouraged "all Republicans to unite behind this wonderful person and her campaign to put America First."

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, is looking to make a political comeback after more than a decade out of office.

She will run in a crowded special election for Alaska’s only seat in the US House of Representatives, left vacant when longtime Rep. Don Young died two in March after representing the state in Washington for 49 years.

"I’m in this race to win it and join the fight for freedom alongside other patriots willing to sacrifice all to save our country," Palin said in announcing her candidacy on Friday.

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Government Corruption
Alaska Corruption- Now All Mail-In Ballots and No Signature Check
2022-03-28
[GatewayPundit] In the upcoming election in Alaska, two major changes will take effect that will destroy free and fair elections in the state forever. According to Joel Davidson at Alaska Watch:

Alaska’s Division of Elections will not verify the authenticity of voter signatures on the ballots cast in the upcoming June 11 special statewide primary to replace Rep. Don Young.

“There is no statutory authority to verify signatures, but voters will have to provide witness signatures,” a March 25 email from Alaska’s Division of Elections stated.

Since this will be the first time Alaska has ever conducted a statewide mail-in election, concerns have been raised about how the state will ensure that voters are who they claim to be.

Nationally, the most common way of verifying mail-in ballots is to have elections officials verify that a voter’s signature matches the signature on file with the division of elections.

The state won’t pass bills that prevent voter fraud through the verification of signatures.

Multiple bills have been introduced in the current legislative session to address voter integrity issues, including voter signature verification, but they have languished in various House and Senate committee assignments. Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer submitted legislation to the current Legislature to address this issue, but his Senate Bill 167 has languished in the Senate State Affairs Committee since Jan. 18th with no movement. Several other bills dealing with voter signature verification have been introduced, including House Bill 96 by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. That bill has stalled in the House State Affairs Committee.

Because of this, the upcoming election will be mail-in ballots but no signatures will be checked. What could go wrong?

In addition, Alaska’s voter rolls are outdated and include more names than registered voters.

Since Alaska has one of the most bloated voter registration rolls in the nation, it is a certainty that thousands of mail-in ballots will be sent to outdated addresses where the voter on file no longer resides.

Alaska’s state’s voter rolls ballooned to 103% of registrations as of 2018 – the highest in the nation by a wide margin. That means there are tens of thousands of registered voters who either no longer live in Alaska or have died. And the predicament isn’t getting any better. In 2020 Alaska’s voter registration skyrocketed to 118%. This mounting problem coincides with a 2016 law which allowed the state to automatically register Alaskans when they apply for a PFD.
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-Land of the Free
Guns could have saved Jews from the Holocaust, Alaska congressman says
2018-03-01
[News Tribune] An Alaska congressman has argued that Jews could have averted the Holocaust if they’d been armed.

"How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed? Fifty million in Russia," says Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska on a recording made by a Democrat running for Young’s seat. "How many Jews were put in the ovens because they were unarmed?"

Dmitri Shein, a Democrat seeking Young’s seat, recorded the comments at a conference last week in Juneau, reported Alaska Public Media. Shein asked Young about school safety, prompting the exchange.

The argument that gun control eased Adolf Hitler’s rise in Germany before World War II has circulated among gun-rights advocates for years, even appearing in a National Review article.
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Home Front: Politix
Trump taps Montana congressman Ryan Zinke as interior secretary
2016-12-15
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who has represented Montana’s at-large congressional seat for one term, to serve as secretary of the Department of the Interior, according to an individual with firsthand knowledge of the decision.

Zinke, who studied geology as an undergraduate
... another one with an opinion on the current climate brouhaha, I'd bet...
at the University of Oregon and served as a Navy SEAL from 1986 to 2008 before entering politics,
...ooooohhhhh another former military type OODA-ing around the place, expecting results from his people -- Mr. Trump does not play games...
campaigned for his House seat on a platform of achieving North American energy independence. He sits on the House Natural Resources Committee as well as the Armed Services Committee.

A lifelong hunter and fisherman, the 55-year-old Zinke has defended public access to federal lands even though he frequently votes against environmentalists on issues ranging from coal extraction to oil and gas drilling. This summer, he quit his post as a member of the GOP platform-writing committee after the group included language that would have transferred federal land ownership to the states.

“What I saw was a platform that was more divisive than uniting,” Zinke said at the time. “At this point, I think it’s better to show leadership.”

Trump also opposes such land transfers, but the provision made it into the official Republican platform.

Zinke recently criticized an Interior Department rule aimed at curbing inadvertent releases of methane from oil and gas operations on federal land as “duplicative and unnecessary.”

“Clean air and clean water are absolute top priorities when we talk about responsible energy development, however the final rule issued by the Obama administration does nothing to further protect our resources,” he said in a statement. “This rule is a stark reminder that we need to invest in infrastructure projects like the Keystone pipeline, so we don’t need to flare excess gas.”

During his time in Congress, Zinke has established a 3 percent voting score with the League of Conservation Voters. But he has broken ranks with the panel’s GOP majority on occasion, opposing a measure by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) that would have allowed each state to buy up to 2 million acres in U.S. Forest Service land to boost timber production. He has also pushed for full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a high priority for outdoors groups.

Land Tawney, president and chief executive of the Montana-based Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, described Zinke on Tuesday as “a straight shooter” who has established credibility with outdoors enthusiasts in the state. During a recent meeting with him at a distillery in Whitefish, the congressman’s home town, Zinke walked into the place in flip-flops.

“You wouldn’t know he’s a congressman,” Tawney said. “He really prides himself on being a Theodore Roosevelt Republican, and he lives that a little bit more than other people.”

Outdoors activities such as mountain biking and skiing are a major economic driver in Whitefish as well as in Montana overall, where roughly 200,000 residents have big-game hunting licenses and 300,000 have fishing licenses. Zinke, who has been endorsed by the Outdoor Industry Association, has embraced that sector of the state’s economy.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership President Whit Fosburgh, whose hunters and anglers group has worked with Zinke, said in an interview that it would be “very supportive of Ryan Zinke” as a Cabinet nominee.

Still, a slew of environmental groups came out Tuesday against Zinke, who opposes safeguards the Obama administration has provided for temporary wetlands and intermittent streams, as well as its temporary moratorium on coal leasing on federal land. While he supported subsidizing renewable energy programs and climate change legislation before being elected to the House, during a 2014 debate he said of climate change, “It’s not a hoax, but it’s not proven science either.”
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Home Front: Politix
House GOP gets a single earmark in Homeland Security spending bill
2010-06-29
H/T Weaselzippers
All earmarks in the proposed Homeland Security spending bill for 2011 went to Democrats -- save one. Rep. Joseph Cao (La.) was the only House Republican to win a Homeland Security earmark: $800,000 for Federal Emergency Management Administration state and local programs and an emergency operations center in New Orleans. Every other earmark was sponsored by a Democrat.

The remaining $69.15 million in earmarked funds in the Homeland Security bill were for Democrats, a point Republicans were quick to note.

"This is a clear sign that House Republicans' principled stand for an earmark moratorium and real reform is having an immediate effect," said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). "At a time when Washington Democrats' out-of-control spending is scaring the hell out of the American people, and they refuse to even pass a budget for the first time in modern history, the contrast on the issue of spending and jobs could not be more clear."

Cao's earmark does cut against the one-year earmark moratorium that Boehner and other GOP leaders have called for. While most of House GOP members are complying with the temporary ban, Cao, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) haven't committed to it.

The $43.9 billion Homeland Security spending proposal was reported out of a House Appropriations subcommittee last week. It's the first of a dozen spending bills for fiscal year 2011 to advance in Congress.

Earmarks are provisions that lawmakers insert in spending bills in order to steer federal money to specific projects.

The Homeland Security spending measure approved last year had $264 million in earmarks. It's too early to say whether earmarked spending will be lower in the 2011 bill, as senators -- who tend to be more prolific earmarkers -- have yet to take up the measure.

House members, however, appear to be on the path to lower earmark totals. Last year's House Homeland Security spending bill included a total of 146 earmarks requested solely by lawmakers worth $108 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a non-partisan group. The total for the House bill for 2011 has 73 congressional earmarks worth $57.1 million. (Those numbers don't include earmarks requested by both the Obama administration and lawmakers.)

"Total earmarking is down and not only did Democrats not fill the vacuum left by the Republican earmark moratorium, but they actually cut their own totals as well," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

In the House proposal for 2011, the largest earmarks went to Democrats: $12.9 million for a National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center at Texas A&M University requested by Rep. Chet Edwards (Texas) and the White House; $4.75 million for the North Carolina Collaboratory for Bio-Preparedness at the University of North Carolina requested by North Carolina Reps. Bob Etheridge, Brad Miller and David Price; and $3 million for State and local cybersecurity training at the University of Texas requested by Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (Texas).

Earmarks have come under greater scrutiny from both parties. House Democrats have installed a permanent ban on earmarks that go to for-profit entities. Most of those earmarks have been attached to Defense spending bills and have gone to military contractors.


The growing momentum against earmarks is due in part to rising concerns about government spending and the $1.5 trillion deficit expected this year. But earmarked spending for 2010 spending bills accounted for just $10 billion of the $3.5 trillion federal budget.

Earmark watchers said the total number of earmarks was higher -- $15.9 billion, according to the Taxpayers for Common Sense, and $16.5 billion according to the Citizens Against Government Waste. Their totals include both the earmarks disclosed in official legislative reports and money steered toward specific projects by federal agencies at the request of lawmakers.
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Home Front: Politix
Old-school corruption
2009-11-03
Before taking control of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history." However, with dozens of mostly Democratic lawmakers and various staff under investigation by the House's twin ethics bodies, the majority clearly values political power over clean government.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charles B. Rangel, 20-term New York Democrat, and Defense Appropriations subcommittee Chairman Rep. John P. Murtha, 19-term Pennsylvania Democrat, are the poster children for how failed ethics cops protect old-guard lawmakers. While under investigation by the ethics committee, they continue to hold onto power in the face of obvious signs of corruption.

Along with 24-year veteran Rep. Peter J. Visclosky, Indiana Democrat, and 18-year veteran Rep. James P. Moran, Virginia Democrat, Mr. Murtha remains intertwined in an ongoing federal investigation of the PMA Group. Clients of the defunct defense-lobbying firm received millions in earmarks from the lawmakers after PMA's staff and clients gave more than $1 million in campaign contributions to the three lawmakers.

Rep. Norm Dicks, 16-term Washington Democrat; Rep. Marcy Kaptur, 14-term Ohio Democrat; Rep. C.W. Bill Young, 20-term Florida Republican; and Rep. Todd Tiahrt, eight-term Kansas Republican, also are all facing internal House investigations for their ties to the group. Though none of these lawmakers has been charged with a crime, the situation has the unmistakable stink of a classic "pay-to-play" scheme and more than calls into question their continued service on the committee that gives out defense funds.

The House ethics committee has been dithering in its investigation of Mr. Rangel's activities for more than a year, perhaps by design, because a completed investigation almost certainly threatens Mr. Rangel's career. With no end to his reign as the House's chief tax writer in sight, Mr. Rangel faces a litany of troubling accusations that include failing to declare more than $650,000 in assets on his 2007 financial disclosure forms, failing to pay taxes on rental income and landing tax benefits by claiming three different homes as his primary residence.

The accusations against Rep. Don Young, Alaska Republican, first elected in 1973, provide another example of how the process is broken. He is accused of taking bribes from oil executive Bill Allen, who is awaiting sentencing on federal bribery charges. Mr. Young at least was forced out of his post as the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee.

The lack of action by Democratic leaders is not surprising. The ethics committee has a long history of being an ineffective tool for investigating potential violations of ethics laws, only taking action when it is absolutely politically necessary. Democrats' smoke-and-mirrors Office of Congressional Ethics, created in 2008 under the guise of improving the process, is fighting a turf battle with the ethics panel and has only made the process more complex.

If Mrs. Pelosi is serious about ensuring lawmakers act ethically, she would push real reforms of this flawed process and stop grading on a massive curve. That requires a willingness to launch tough, active investigations instead of the foot-dragging cover-ups that have become all too typical.
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Alaska lawmaker is linked to corruption probe
2009-10-26
In documents filed this week in Alaska's long-running political corruption investigation, the government's lead witness said he had given thousands of dollars in gifts to "United States Representative A" -- who could only be Republican Rep. Don Young.

Bill Allen, a former oil services company executive, said he paid $10,000 to $15,000 a year from 1993 to 2006 out of VECO Corp.'s funds for the representative's annual fundraiser in Alaska. The lawmaker, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, did not list any such payments on financial disclosure forms.

In a statement of stipulated facts that included a "confession of additional criminal activity," Allen said his co-defendant in the case, former VECO Vice President Rick Smith, had purchased a $1,000 set of golf clubs with Allen's credit card and given them to the congressman.

Testimony and evidence provided by Allen, who is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday on his 2007 guilty pleas to conspiracy, bribery and tax charges, has helped convict several Alaska state legislators and former Gov. Frank Murkowski's chief of staff on corruption charges stemming from influence VECO wielded over pending legislation on oil taxes and other matters affecting the industry.

His testimony also helped lead to the conviction of powerful Republican Sen. Ted Stevens on unreported gift-giving charges. Stevens' conviction was voided in April after the Justice Department admitted serious prosecutorial misconduct. By that time the veteran senator already had lost his bid for reelection.

Young, 76, has never been directly identified by federal officials as a target of the probe, and he consistently has refused to publicly answer questions about it. His spokeswoman, Meredith Kenny, on Friday declined to comment, and Young's lawyer did not return a phone call.
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Home Front: Politix
Congress cowers before reigning King of Pork
2009-10-08
In a Congress filled with fiefdoms of special-interest spending, one man is king — Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. In 2008, Murtha earmarked $192 million for his district. Thus far this year, he’s only managed to earmark $134 million. But give him time.

The jewel in Murtha’s pork crown is the airport in Johnstown, Pa. That would be the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.

A Washington Post exposé revealed that Murtha has steered more than $200 million in federal funds to his namesake over the past 15 years, including more than $25 million for runways to handle heavy military planes that don’t fly there, $8 million for a radar system that isn’t used and $800,000 in stimulus funds to repave an alternate runway though the main one sees little traffic.

The Murtha airport has only three daily commercial flights — all to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. About 30 people use the airport on a daily basis. According to the Post, every flight to and from Murtha receives a federal subsidy of $147 per passenger, twice the national average for the program that supports air transportation to rural communities.

Rep. Don Young and former Sen. Ted Stevens, Republicans from Alaska, had funding for their Bridge to Nowhere rescinded before it was built. Murtha actually has an Airport for No One.

Last month, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., introduced an amendment that would have prevented any future federal funds from flowing to the airport. “If we cannot cut the funding for this little airport in Pennsylvania, named after the congressman that helped get it $200 million,” the Post quoted him as saying, “if we cannot look at the facts in this particular case, and decide as a Congress to stop this, then there is nothing we can cut here, then there is no such thing as waste.”

The amendment was defeated when 53 senators, including 51 Democrats, voted against it. A similar measure was defeated earlier in the year in the House along a party line vote, 263-154.

Even in the midst of economic hardship, Congress can’t muster the courage tell one of its biggest spendthrifts, “Enough!” And that’s one of the major reasons why the public holds the institution in such low esteem.
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Home Front: Politix
House turns back call for PMA probe
2009-03-06
The House on Thursday night turned back another call to investigate the PMA Group, a once-powerful lobbying firm whose offices were recently raided by the FBI and which has close ties to Pennsylvania Rep. John P. Murtha (D).

Twenty-one Democrats, including nine freshmen, voted to proceed with debate on the measure offered by Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake (R) calling for an investigation of the lobbying firm. Most of the Democrats represent fiscally conservative districts.

Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska — the focus of an unrelated federal corruption probe — voted with the Democrats to table Flake's motion. He was joined by Republicans Walter Jones of North Carolina, Dana Rohrabacher of California and Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, whose district abuts Murtha's and who has been an outspoken supporter of his recently embattled neighbor.
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Home Front: Politix
GOP lawmakers tout projects in the stimulus bill they opposed
2009-02-19
Rep. John Mica was gushing after the House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the big stimulus plan. "I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future," the Florida Republican beamed in a press release. Yet Mica had just joined every other GOP House member in voting against the $787.2 billion economic recovery plan.

Republicans echoed their party line over and over during the debate: "This bill is loaded with wasteful deficit spending on the majority's favorite government programs," as Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., put it.

But Mica wasn't alone in touting what he saw as the bill's virtues. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, also had nice things to say in a press release. Young boasted that he "won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program and other Alaska small business owners last night in H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

One provision would have made it harder for minority businesses to win contracts, and Young explained that he "worked with members on the other side of the aisle to make the case for these programs, and was able to get the provision pulled from the bill." Yet later in the day Young -- who recently told McClatchy that he would've included earmarks, or local projects, in the bill if it had been permitted -- issued another statement blasting the overall measure. "This bill was not a stimulus bill. It was a vehicle for pet projects, and that's wrong," he protested.
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Home Front: Politix
Press Screams Finally: In a First, Palin Takes Press Questions
2008-09-25
'cause, they didn't like her answers! Silly questions, too
Sarah Palin fielded four questions from a small group of reporters Thursday after touring several Sept. 11-related sites, articulating a forceful approach to the war on terror but offering mostly evasive answers to specific questions.

She also wouldn't say whether she supports the reelection bids of embattled Alaska Republicans Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young. "Ted Stevens' trial started a couple days ago. We'll see where that goes," she told reporters in what amounted to her first press conference since accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination.

She ignored a follow-up question on whether she would vote for Stevens and Young and wouldn't say whether she would have done anything differently than the Bush administration in its war on terror.
Anything different? Hundreds of dissertations will be written about Bush's administration in this war, and they want an on-the-spot answer.
"I agree with the Bush administration that we take the fight to them," she said. "We never again let them come onto our soil and try to destroy not only our democracy but communities like the community of New York. Never again. So, yes, I do agree with taking the fight to the terrorists and stopping them over there."

She deflected a follow-up question about whether she felt the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan has inflamed Islamic extremists.
And please tell me, what does that have to do with price of tea in China? They followed her around all week, to ask that?
"I think our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to further security of our nation, again, because the mission is to take the fight over there. Do not let them come over here and attempt again what they accomplished here, and that was some destruction, terrible destruction on that day. But since Sept. 11, Americans are uniting and rebuilding and committing to never letting that happen again."

In response to a question about the bailout package before Congress, she said, "I don't support that until the provisions that Sen. McCain has offered are implemented in [Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson's proposals."

Palin broke her campaign trail media silence after touring several Sept. 11-related sites and delivering a brief statement on the lessons of Sept. 11 in front of a firehouse that lost many of its firefighters in the World Trade Center disaster.

"Every American student needs to come through this area so that, especially this younger generation of Americans, to be in a position of never forgetting what happened here and never repeating, never allowing a repeat of what happened here. I wish every American would come through here. I wish every world leader would come through here and understand what it is that took place here and, more importantly, how America came together and united to commit to never allowing this to happen again. And just to hear from and see these good New Yorkers who are rebuilding not just this but are helping to rebuild America has been very, very inspiring and encouraging. These are the good Americans who are committed to peace and security, and it's been an absolute honor getting to meet these folks today."

Before that, Palin took a 20-minute tour of the Tribute WTC 9/11 museum, took in a firefighters memorial, spent 25 minutes in a center for families of victims of the terrorist attacks, then met with New York City firefighters.

Palin was ushered into the museum by Lee Ielpi, president of the board of directors of the September 11th Families Association, which maintains the private museum. Ielpi's son, a firefighter, died on Sept. 11, and Jennifer Adams, CEO of the tribute museum, said Palin was moved when Ielpi showed her his son's picture as well as his bunker jacket.

Palin told her guides that her parents came to New York after the attacks and worked in the Staten Island landfill.
Just a tid-bit that reporters didn't vet from their digging
After the tour, Palin observed a memorial wall with John Morabito, a firefighter with Ladder Company 10. "She was actually a little emotional because of the firefighters memorial wall," Morabito said. "I think she was sincere with it. She was friendly. I think she actually is a decent person."

"She seems to be up to date [with] current events and everything that happened on 9/11. She's been given enough information. I'm sure she knows as much as the common American."
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Home Front: Politix
Alaska rep Young's lead over Lt Gov Parnell inches up to 239 votes
2008-09-07
Latest results of Republican Congressional Seat primary race up here in Alaska. It's a cliff hanger, folks. About a 0.2% spread between them, with incumbent Don Young in the lead.
Rep. Don Young's lead over Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in the Republican primary for Alaska's seat in the U.S. House swelled to 239 votes early this morning with the count of absentee and questioned ballots from the last three House districts, all in Anchorage.

Altogether, elections workers reviewed and counted about 25,000 questioned and absentee ballots on Friday. The first batch of returns posted on the division of elections Web site about 5:15 p.m. showed Young's 151-vote lead shrinking to about 129 votes. But as the night wore on, his margin expanded to 172 votes, and the last returns posted about 12:30 a.m. had Young with 48,006 votes to Parnell's 47,767 --the 239 vote margin.

A third Republican in the race, state Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, had 9,856.

Still to be counted are an unknown number of absentee votes cast and mailed by voters from overseas. Those will be accepted until Wednesday. Division of elections director Gail Fenumiai said an estimate of the number of such ballots already received may not be available until Monday.

About 250 sample ballots from Petersburg and Wrangell -- cast when precinct workers there ran out of the regular Republican candidate ballots -- were included in Friday's tally, Fenumiai said.

Neither Young nor Parnell could immediately be reached in the early morning hours today. Young attended a fundraiser in Roslyn, Wash., Friday night, according to campaign spokesman Mike Anderson.

In a statement e-mailed about 7 p.m. Alaska time, Young said his continuing hair-thin lead was encouraging but not the last word. He said, however, that he is campaigning as if he will be the party's candidate in the Nov. 4 general election, where Democrat Ethan Berkowitz awaits. "While I am pleased to hold the lead at this stage of the process, it appears as if we won't know the final results for another two weeks," Young said in the statement.

Parnell's campaign also e-mailed a statement Friday afternoon, before the vote updates began. "Given that the current difference in votes is so small, anything can happen and we remain cautiously optimistic about the results," Parnell's statement said.

Earlier in the day, Anderson said the Young campaign was hoping to see the 18-term incumbent's lead open up significantly with the absentee count. "The worst thing that could happen is if the number stays close," Anderson said.

A recount is possible if the race remains close after the overseas ballots are counted next week. Under state law, the expense of the recount would be paid by the state if the difference between Young and Parnell is within 0.5 percent of the overall vote for the two. In this case, that would be around 500 votes.

The losing candidate, or 10 qualified voters, could still request a recount if the difference is more than that, but would have to put down a $10,000 deposit on the cost, according to the law. The deposit can be refunded if the recount changes the outcome, or under certain other conditions.

Anderson said Young plans to return to Washington, D.C., Monday as the congressional session resumes. A number of congressional votes are scheduled before the Nov. 4 election, and Young will have to balance campaigning with those responsibilities, the spokesman said.

The U.S. House primary race was the only contest on the ballot where the outcome was in doubt pending the absentee ballot counting.
If Gov. Sarah Palin wins the VP slot, and Lt. Gov. Parnell wins the primary and general election for US House, leadership at the top for Alaska would get interesting, to say the least.
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