Range connections in AK-SEN race

Minn Post has a story about the Iron Range family ties of Mark Begich, Mayor of Anchorage and Democratic challenger to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Begich’s father, U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, was born and raised on the Iron Range and his uncle, Joe, is a fixture in Range politics.

I am ashamed that I didn’t write about this earlier as I’ve been following this connection for a couple years.

Polls show that Mark Begich, the first-ever native born Alaskan to be Anchorage mayor, is leading Stevens, an octogenarian facing corruption charges, in this traditionally Republican state. His dad Nick Begich was a rising star in Democratic politics before disappearing with then-Speaker Hale Boggs (Cokie Roberts dad, by the way) in an election year plane crash. The plane was never found. Joe Begich, a former Eveleth mayor and Minnesota House member, was in the room with Iron Range lawmakers when they learned of Sen. Paul Wellstone’s plane crash on the Range in the waning days of the 2002 campaign. He doesn’t think these crashes were accidents.

Isn’t the Range interesting? We’re everywhere. We don’t have a TGI Fridays, but we’ve got human drama.

Drama, drama, drama.

On a personal note, I know several Iron Range friends who have relocated to Alaska. There’s some kind of cultural simpatico between northern Minnesota and Alaska (which, despite its appearance in the inset of most maps, is way bigger than Texas). Seriously, waaaaay bigger.

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