Only in Alaska… – Eclecticism

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on April 7, 2006). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

Apparently, my hometown has been in the midst of a Mayoral campaign. Since I don’t live in Anchorage anymore, I didn’t know anything about this until today, when a short post on my Dad’s site listed the current vote tallies.

I have to admit, I’m a little bummed. It looks like current Mayor Mark Begich has won re-election, with 55% of the vote — and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.

What disappoints me is that while the runner-up got a fairly respectable 41% of the vote, by not electing him, Anchorage, Alaska (the largest city in a state known primarily for the ice and snow of its winter months) has lost the opportunity to have Jack Frost as a mayor.

You know, you couldn’t introduce an Alaskan mayoral candidate with the name of Jack Frost in a fiction novel without your editor kicking the manuscript back to you with his name circled in bright red permanent mark and a “you’ve got to be kidding me” notation in the margin. And yet here we are, with the real thing.

Now I just have to figure out which Anchorage political race amuses me more: the 2006 Mayoral election with Jack Frost as a candidate, or the 2002 Republican primary for Turnagain district 26 which gave voters a choice between Strait and Gay.

I’m glad I don’t live there anymore — but as I often say, Anchorage really is a wonderful place to be from.

“There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart)” by Eurythmics from the album Eurythmics Greatest Hits (1985, 5:22).

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