Tuesday's Primaries

Alaska Governor
Governor Frank Murkowski (R), the former Senator who named his daughter to his Senate seat after becoming Governor, is not a popular man. His approval rating is sitting at 20%, according to Survey USA's June polling, and he's trailing in Rasmussen Reports polls even in his own primary, where he comes in third with just 17% of the vote. His opposition? Former mayor Sarah Palin, who leads the RR poll with 43%, businessman John Binkley (who has 30%), and also-rans Jerry Heikes and Merica Hlatcu. Murkowski, who I admit to rooting against because of the unabashed nepotism involved in the incident mentioned above with his Senate seat, is going to go down tomorrow, and hard.

On the Democratic side, the biggest name and likely nominee is former Governor Tony Knowles, who seems to run for every office in the state. He faced Murkowski's daughter Lisa in 2004 when she was running for a full term in the Senate. Now, he's back to running for Governor. He served two terms, and was term-limited in 2002. However, the term limits in Alaska only state that a person can't serve more than 2 consecutive 4-year terms; in other words, serving eight years, taking 4 off, and serving eight more would be perfectly kosher. Knowles opponents are Eric Croft and Bruce Lemke, but Knowles is going to win.

Alaska CD 1 (At-Large)
Congressman Don Young (R) is unopposed, and he can sit back and watch 4 Democrats fight for the chance to lose to him in November. Diane Benson, with $20,000 in the bank, is sadly the best financed of the challengers. After that, things get downright scary, with Frank Vondersaar and his $1,092 war chest second in the money rankings. Ben Frank Hyde and Ray Metcalfe are the other 2 running for the nomination. No idea whoh will win, but I'll give the nod to Benson.

Oklahoma CD 5 runoff
Lieutenant Governor Mary Fallin (R) and Mick Cornett (R) face off in a runoff to determine who will be the Republican nominee for this seat. Fallin is the front-runner, having received 35% of the initial vote to Cornett's 24%. The winner will face David Hunter (D) in November.

Wyoming Governor
Governor Dave Freudenthal (D) faces a primary challenge from Al Hamburg, but with an approval rating of 67% (see Survey USA link above), he's not exactly in danger. He's also unlikely to worry about Republicans, although he is in Wyoming. Raymond Hunkins and John Self are fighting to be the Republican that gets a shot at taking him down.

Wyoming CD 1 (At-Large)
Congressman Barbara Cubin (R) faces a primary challenge from the under-funded Justin Winney, Jr. Cubin will win, and will face Gary Trauner (D) in November.