McAdams is big, bulky, and while neat and tidy, clearly doesn't waste time leafing through GQ for fashion tips. When working a room, he has a firm handshake accompanied by an engaging smile. And he is young, his audience on this occasion further highlighting his youth.
McAdams began by asking and then answering the rhetorical question "Who is Scott McAdams?" It's telling that a man who had just won the nomination for one of the nation's highest offices would need to explain who he is to a room crowded with super-voters.
McAdams' autobiography might best be titled "Up From Petersburg," beginning with the story of how a single mom brought her family to the Southeast community from Outside. The family eventually thrived and Scott received a solid education before becoming a deckhand on a fishing vessel. He used his fishing experience to his advantage several times during his appearance, most noticeably when he was asked if he is tough enough to stand up to President Obama and the demands of national Democrats. "Listen," he replied, "I was a deckhand. I know what it is to be sworn at in Norwegian."
Sitka became McAdams' home during his twenties, and by his account, the good citizens of Sitka kept asking him to run for office -- the school board for example -- and who was he to say no? He has been involved in community service for a number of years, he said, and stressed that he, unlike Republican Joe Miller, has actually held elective office and debated budgets.
McAdams' Sitka is a small town full of neighbors who almost compulsively do neighborly things. For McAdams, Sitka is a metaphor for Alaska, home to independent, take-charge, problem-solving folks. Those of you who remember Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole repeatedly invoking his home of Russell, Kansas, will understand how McAdams portrayed Sitka: Citadel of American virtue.
The policy positions McAdams outlined were what you would expect from an Alaska Democrat. Yes, we have to protect the entitlement programs, but we have to control spending. This amounts to squaring the circle, but the audience liked what they heard even when McAdams repeated himself several times.
McAdams invoked Joe Miller as not only his Republican opponent but a dark cloud on the horizon of Alaska democracy and prosperity, financed by Outsiders. (McAdams presumably will receive money from a group of "good" Outsiders.) But it is not clear Miller is his only opponent. McAdams may still face Lisa Murkowski, too, when she reaches the end of her self-dramatizing decision about a write-in.
Whether McAdams draws a two-person or three-person race, is he ready for prime time? Who knows. The United States Senate has become home to many improbable candidates. But as a young man, a Democrat, and until recently an unknown, he has a big sales job in front of him and little time for the pitch.
Michael Carey is the former editorial page editor of the Daily News. E-mail, mcarey@adn.com.
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