...so I'm not exactly sure what this election result means.

the Alaska Democratic Party (the lieutenant governor is a Native Alaskan Democrat), Republicans of the Jay Hammond/Wally Hickel variety, the Alaska Federation of Natives, the unions, the commercial fishing groups, and most sane people in Alaska who are tired of this state being a wholly owned-subsidiary of BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon. Sarah is just one more among the many, many endorsers. Sean Parnell has been THE worst governor that Alaska has ever had, way worse than Sarah ever was. This win is good. Walker has promised to accept Medicaid expansion as one of his first acts, something that Parnell has steadfastly refused to do; he is opposed to the Pebble Mine; and although he is conservative socially, he has said that he won't push that agenda. And most of all, he will deal with the Big Three oil companies from a position of strength rather than capitulating to them at every turn. (It should be noted that Parnell was a ConocoPhillips lobbyist prior to becoming Sarah Palin's lieutenant governor and actually worked on EXXON's defense team during the spill litigation. He is no friend to ordinary Alaskans.)

As for Sarah, sometimes the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And whatever else anyone says about her - and you know they say plenty - she does love Alaska. Before she lost her mind on the national stage, she wasn't half bad. A little ditzy but not the crazy witch we see today.

They are already picking Republicans for their transition team. Walker has always been a Republican and IMO he only changed to Independent so he might win the Governorship. He certainly does not have any Democratic Principles he stands behind. So far both he and Mallot have said they back the two billion dollar tax give away to the oil industry, while Juneau is dicussing ways to raise taxes on the seniors and other vulnuralable groups to make up for the lost revenues. IMO this was truly a case of Twiddly Dee or Twiddly Dum..Having said all that I am still happy that they won instead of Parnell.

Of course, I would have preferred a Democratic governor, but you and I both know that neither Mallott or Walker would have won a three-way race, and Mallott probably wouldn't have won even if Walker hadn't been on the ticket. There is a Republican and a Democrat on the transition team that was named a couple of days ago, and people whom I trust quite a bit are supportive. I think Walker will be a vast improvement over Parnell and maybe we can start moving back to the left a little. I suspect we won't get back to our Democratic roots here until all the oil is gone, but that isn't going to happen for a while.

I'm just thrilled that Parnell will be gone. I can't stand that little weasel.