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"Rep. Don Young, a 35-year veteran of the U.S. House and currently under federal investigation, narrowly won the Republican primary battle Wednesday to keep his seat, Alaska's only one in the House of Representatives," the AP says. "In a close race only decided with the final counting of about 350 outstanding absentee and questioned ballots, Young beat Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell by 304 votes. Young finished with 48,195 votes; Parnell had 47,891 votes....

U.S. Representative Don Young of Alaska still has a slim lead in a tight primary race against state Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell. Young was 172 votes ahead of Parnell this evening (Friday) with most of the absentee and questioned ballots counted. That's up slightly from 151 votes after the primary election a week and a half ago. Ballots from five House districts still remain to be counted tonight and the last overseas ballots won't be counted until Wednesday. But campaign spokesman Mike Anderson said Young was cautiously optimistic. Young, the subject of a federal investigation for his ties to oil...

With another hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast, the so-called “bridge to nowhere,” championed by Alaska’s Congressional delegation on behalf of the people of Ketchikan, just won’t go away. Three years ago, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the plan to spend hundreds of millions to connect Ketchikan with its airport on Gravina Island became a national symbol of Congressional excess, much to the dismay of Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young. Sen. John McCain has made it a habit to ridicule the bridge project during his presidential campaign. McCain has promised to veto any bill sent to...

U.S. Rep. Don Young and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will have to wait until Sept. 5 to find out which of them will face Democrat Ethan Berkowitz in November. With all but one of Alaska's 438 precincts reporting late Wednesday afternoon, less than two-tenths of a percentage point separated Young and Parnell in the Republican U.S. House primary. Young was in the lead with 42,539 votes, just 152 votes more than Parnell's 42,387. The state Division of Elections was still waiting for the Interior village of Hughes to turn in its ballot count.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell held a slight lead early today (Wednesday) in the Republican race for US House. With 85% of Alaska precincts reporting, Parnell held a 213-vote lead over the incumbent, US Representative Don Young.

Facing bad publicity and a dwindling campaign account, U.S. Rep. Don Young last year turned to the "AK Wolfpack," a group of more than 20 lobbyists, including former Young staffers and retired former congressmen, with close ties to the Alaska Republican. Young's chief of staff, Mike Anderson, sent the Wolfpack an e-mail to tell them that national Democrats planned aggressive fundraising and claims of misconduct by Young to topple the 35-year incumbent congressman and his fellow Alaska Republican, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. If they succeed, Anderson warned, "you and your clients will be impacted." Anderson e-mailed the fundraising appeal on...

Today, the Club for Growth Political Action Committee endorses Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Don Young in the state's August primary. The reason for the endorsement is simple. Mr. Parnell is a solid conservative who led the fight for lower taxes and spending in the state legislature, and joined Gov. Sarah Palin in pushing for reform in the state. The man he is hoping to replace isn't economically conservative in the least. Mr. Young is actually a poster child for what has gone wrong with the Republican Party in Washington.

Today, the Club for Growth Political Action Committee endorses Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Don Young in the state's August primary. The reason for the endorsement is simple. Mr. Parnell is a solid conservative who led the fight for lower taxes and spending in the state legislature, and joined Gov. Sarah Palin in pushing for reform in the state. The man he is hoping to replace isn't economically conservative in the least. Mr. Young is actually a poster child for what has gone wrong with the Republican Party in Washington. Over his 35...

BUTTE, Alaska (AP) - For decades, Alaskans have contentedly called Ted Stevens senator, and Don Young congressman, their Republicans in far-off Washington. Now other, less flattering names are creeping into conversation. Crook, for example. Or jerk. Or old, washed up. And because of it, Democrats sense opportunity even in the Last Frontier, a state that has dealt them mostly defeat for a generation. "I've been voting for Ted and Don all my life," says Scott Frank, 45, a blue-collar Republican sipping coffee at the Butte Cafe, "but they've really screwed up." Shoulder-to-shoulder around a slab-wood table, Frank and his pals...

The lieutenant governor of Alaska, Sean Parnell, announced today that he's challenging ethically embattled Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) in the Republican primary, raising the likelihood of a hotly contested fight for the GOP nomination. Parnell announced his intentions at the state’s Republican Party convention, according to The Associated Press. He will be formally kicking off his campaign at a news conference this afternoon in Anchorage. Parnell is an ally of the state's governor, Sarah Palin, a reform-minded Republican who unseated former Gov. Frank Murkowski in a 2006 Republican primary. An attorney, he has served in both the state House and...

In a surprise move, Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell announced Friday at the State GOP Convention that he will challenge embattled Congressman Don Young in the Republican primary. Young -- an 18-term incumbent -- is reportedly the target of a federal corruption investigation. Young's campaign committee has already spent over $800,000 on legal fees related to the investigation. Independent polling has shown Young trailing former State House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz (D) in general election matchups. "For too long, we have expected too little from our elected officials. It is time for change," said Parnell. As Parnell is a close ally...

LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- Coconut Road near Fort Myers looks like any other concrete ribbon near housing developments, golf courses and shopping malls in this state's booming southwest. But like another fragrant slab of recent pork, the $223 million "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska, Coconut Road leads to somewhere darkly fascinating. It runs straight into Washington's earmark culture of waste, corruption and anticonstitutional deviousness. Today the road ends at a chain-link fence, beyond which flows the river of traffic on Interstate 75. The earmark that would have built an interchange to connect Coconut Road to I-75 was, like the bridge,...

A pair of ethically-embattled GOP lawmakers from Alaska are finding themselves viewed unfavorably by a growing number of the state’s voters, according to a newly-conducted poll from Hays Research Group. Only 44 percent of Alaska voters said they approved of Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-Alaska) performance in office, while 38 percent disapprove. Stevens has been a stalwart in Alaska politics since first elected in 1968, and the six-point net approval rating is one of his lowest levels of support since first elected. Stevens has faced little re-election difficulties since first elected, never winning less than 66 percent of the vote. But...

October 18, 2007, 7:30 a.m. How to Lose, Don YoungÂ’s WayA lesson of 2006: Purge now or pay later. By David Freddoso How can House Republican leaders stave off a rout in 2008? The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), responsible for electing Republican House members, had a pathetic $1.6 million in cash at the end of August. Republican retirements from the House continue to rack up, including several in vulnerable districts. The issues seem to be stacked against the GOP as Democrats exploit issues such as health care and the Iraq war. There has been talk of a few...

A new poll of Alaska voters finds that Alaskans, weary from the scandal-plagued Rep. Don Young (R-AK), support challenger Ethan Berkowitz (D) by a 51% to 45.5% split. This marks the first time the challenger has held a lead over Young this cycle. Perhaps of even more concern for Young, the poll found 34% are strong Berkowitz supporters -- unlikely to change their decision -- while only 19% of those polled called themselves strong supporters of Young. Berkowitz was the 2006 Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor. CQ: "Young has rarely faced serious competition since the 1973 election he won to...

U.S. Rep. Don Young already faces significant opposition in the general election next year. Now he’s facing opposition in the Republican primary. State Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Kodiak, announced Wednesday she will seek Young’s seat in Congress. In an interview with the Kodiak Daily Mirror today, LeDoux said she officially filed papers to run for Young’s seat. LeDoux, an attorney and former Kodiak Island Borough mayor, is attending a board meeting today in Anchorage for the Alaska Aerospace Development Corp., which oversees operation of the Kodiak Launch Complex.

Former Republican gubernatorial candidate John Binkley agrees with Palin that the public is upset. "They don't like the back room deals that have been cut. I think there have been errors in judgment in people as they've dealt with people like Bill Allen, and what that's caused for our state, for our delegation. And they want a change. They don't want to see that business as usual," Binkley said. Like Binkley, former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman says he's not planning to run against Young or Stevens, but also says that's subject to change. "And if nothing changes that would suggest,...

Some called it a bridge to the future. Others called it the bridge to nowhere. The bridge is going nowhere. On Friday, the state abandoned the controversial project in Ketchikan that became a national symbol of federal pork-barrel spending. It closes a chapter that has brought the state reams of ridicule, but it also leaves open wounds in a community that fought for decades to get federal help. "We went through political hot water -- tons of it -- and not just nationally but internationally," said Ketchikan-Gateway Borough Mayor Joe Williams. "We have nothing to show for it." The $398...

The state of Alaska on Friday officially abandoned the controversial "bridge to nowhere" project in Ketchikan that became symbol of federal pork-barrel spending. The $398 million bridge would have connected Ketchikan to its airport on a nearby island. "Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer," Gov. Sarah Palin said in a prepared statement. She directed the state transportation department to find the most "fiscally responsible" alternative for access to the airport. Republicans U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young championed the project through Congress two years ago,...

One of the most conservative members of the Alaska Legislature called for some of the state's most prominent Republican politicians to step aside. Sound off on the important issues at In a letter to the Fairbanks News-Miner, published Sunday, Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks, said he'd like to see both U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young announce their intent to retire and not run for re-election