David Freddoso takes a look at the tight primary race between Rep. Don Young and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell for Alaska’s lone House seat:
Famous for championing such pork projects as the “Bridge to Nowhere,” Young last year berated a fellow House Republican on the floor for attempting to remove one of his earmarks from a bill, calling it “My money! My money!” He made headlines most recently on April 17, when the Senate voted to refer him to the Justice Department for investigation into a highly irregular and possibly extra-constitutional legislative action. Young altered the language of a $10-million earmark in the 2005 Transportation Bill after it had passed both the House and Senate and before it was signed into law. Young has since argued that he did nothing wrong in making this post-passage change, which benefited one of his major campaign donors…. Parnell enjoys the wholehearted support of the popular Governor Palin, who will be on hand this week when he officially opens his campaign office. An independent poll from earlier this month shows him in serious contention–he takes 42 percent to Young’s 45 percent (a third candidate in the race, state Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux (R.), registered at just 2 percent) among Republicans. Parnell expects to do even better among the unaffiliated voters who will also vote in the August primary.
If Republicans don’t fire Don Young, then the voters will in November–if the Feds don’t indict him first.
