Do you think Sen. Barack Obama can win Alaska?

If God who created us as Individuals, Would condemn us for seeking
Him/Her out in our Own INDIVIDUAL way.
THEN THIS GOD/GODDESS isn't Worth Our Worship and doesn't deserve it!
PAPA RAVEN

If there is a God/Goddess in Heaven, and more intelligent citizens of this great state to see this farce of an Election as it truly is. Obama can and will take Alaska By storm. and perhaps even see the division of water and land not witnessed since the Exodus, to happen and make Alaska to not seem nearly as far from the lower48. As it has in the past?

Papa Raven

Actually we as a state almost always (if not always) elect Republicans, especially to Congress and the White House. However, the record breaking, traffic choking turn out to vote for Obama in the Anchorage Democratic caucus on Super Tuesday (primarily fueled by young voters) makes it a possibility that we might actually turn blue in November.

I think that our one percent can come in handy in an election that is probably going to come down to a few percentage points.

I doubt much would change in a switch to a popular vote. It would be nice if my vote went to my candidate no matter what, instead of getting lost in a sea of Republican votes like it does now. However, going to the popular vote system would not change the fact that most Alaskans would vote Republican and that most Californians and New Yorkers would vote Democrat and that there are small pockets across the country actually willing to vote for independent candidates and/or vote their conscience instead of voting for the lesser of two evils. Would it be nice to have my vote count? Definitely. Do I think much will change, the tide will turn, or that we will suddenly become "independent" of special interests and target campaign tactics? No.

Whether they are gunning for your vote or the electoral college's vote, the candidates are always going to play the hot button topics and spoon out the promises and court that lowest common denominator.

In the reality of how a U.S. President gets elected, it doesn't matter if Alaska's electoral votes go to McCain, Obama, or McBama. Alaska has only 3 of the 270 electoral votes needed to elect a U.S. President. That is about 1.1% of the total needed. Thus, voting for President in Alaska is a feel good exercise with no consequence.

Unless or until the President is elected by popular vote, the only states that truly matter are those states with a large number of electoral votes. Look where the candidates campaign!

One way, and perhaps the only way, Alaska impacts a Presidential election is candidate's sense of how a hot botton, attack mode issue, such as drilling in ANWR, plays in a swing state. Neither candidate really cares what happens in ANWR. If they thought it would secure the Presidency and a place in history, they would drill and pave ANWR. Because of the nature of electoral politics, a Presidential candidate simply makes an assessment of how voters in key states feel on an Alaskan issue, and take the popular position.

ANWR is such a good example because it used to be political suicide to want to open it up. Now, with gasoline prices, in some cases, exceeding the family budget, drilling in ANWR is a go. Do you think you could ever suceed in getting americans to voluntarily cut back on their driving? What are the odds? Even then, the joke is ultimately on the voter. Americans consume about 25% of the world's oil production, but only 3% of that production is domestic. America will never be energy independent as long as it is dependent on oil.

 To come full circle, americans will never be politicaly independent, as long as the President is elected by the electoral college. Chance or choice explains it all.

We are independent, level-headed people who generally don't align with a political party.  We can elect Obama if we want to.