Politics

OC's AdTracker on the Bizarre Alaska Senate Race

By Sunlight Foundation & Participatory Politics Foundation

As you watch the election results roll in tonight, keep an eye on the race to represent Alaska in the U.S. Senate. Lisa Murkowski narrowly lost her primary this spring against newcomer and Tea Party candidate Joe Miller. She then decided to run as an independent, but Alaska election law keeps her off the ballot because she lost a primary, so she’s having to run as a write-in (which isn’t easy with a last name like Murkowski). Miller now has the Republican nomination and a lot of Tea Party support, but had an ugly falling-out with Sarah Palin recently when he refused to say she was qualified to be president. However, he is now the official Republican nominee, so the Washington Republican establishment, as represented by the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, is now backing him hard against Murkowski (whom it formerly backed), who now trying to take votes away from Democratic nominee Scott McAdams by running as a centrist.

Got all that?

The bizarreness of this race is reflected in the campaign ads being tracked on our Alaska Senate AdTracker page. Head over there to see the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (the Washington Democratic establishment) accusing Murkowski of “going Washington,” Murkowski bashing Miller for his security guards detaining a reporter, Miller calling Murkowski’s voting record “crazy,” McAdams telling people he can do anything since he’s been cursed at in Norwegian (I’m not kidding), and Murkowski trying to teach people to spell her name.

All these videos and more are viewable at OpenCongress’ AdTracker project. Did we miss some ads? Have you seen some that have driven you crazy? It just takes a minute to enter an ad into AdTracker – all you need is the link for the YouTube page of an ad. As we send some new people to Washington (and deal with the inevitable run-off elections) in the coming weeks, holding candidates accountable for what they said in campaign ads will be critical. Take a moment and head over to AdTracker to help out.

And if you haven’t voted yet, check out the OpenCongress Voters’ Toolbox for some help sorting these candidates out.

Surf along with updates all night on the OC Twitter account.

Full post as published by Open Congress on November 03, 2010 (boomark / email).