Anchorage Daily News

Don Young is showing early signs of an aggressive campaign, conceding that winning his 19th term as Alaska's lone congressman is not going to be easy this fall.

"I'm going to be in the state every month for the rest of this year," Young told supporters in Anchorage last week. "I will be running as hard as you've ever seen me run."

Young, who is widely reported to be under federal investigation, has drawn more competition for his seat than in well over a decade.

Over the past week he held campaign events in Fairbanks, Wasilla, Kenai and Anchorage. Unlike during his 2006 race, Young's campaign Web site lists campaign events and features a map of Alaska that says, "Coming soon, you'll be able to follow Don's footsteps around the state!"

Republican Party of Alaska chairman Randy Ruedrich said he likes what he's seeing.

"He's on his way and that's important," Ruedrich said. "It's a higher level of real engagement than he's had in a number of years."

THE COMPETITION

Young's challengers have largely been focusing on fundraising this early in the campaign, although they've also been out meeting with groups. Young has a somewhat different timeline, as he will have to juggle his Alaska campaigning with the time he spends in Washington, D.C., until the summer congressional recess.

He faces a Republican primary challenger in Gabrielle LeDoux, a state representative from Kodiak, who will be busy in Juneau as the Legislature begins its 90-day session.

The Democratic contenders for Young's congressional seat are former state House minority leader Ethan Berkowitz, ex-state Democratic Party chief Jake Metcalfe and Diane Benson, who received 40 percent of the vote when she ran against Young in 2006.

"This is not going to be an easy election," Young said at his meet and greet and fundraiser at the Sourdough Mining Company, an Anchorage restaurant.

A theme in Young's campaign is that none of his challengers would be able to do the job better than he has.

"Anybody running for this job, ask them what they can do better than Don Young. In fact, ask them, really, what hasn't he done?" Young said.

His competitors say Young, who first went to Congress in 1973, has been in office long enough and it's time for change. At least two of them, Benson and Metcalfe, have focused on the federal investigation and argue it hurts Alaska's credibility.

Young, 74, has been under investigation for his ties to Veco Corp., for fundraising activities and for his role in specific congressional earmarks, according to various media reports. He has not been charged with any crime.

Young has spent hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars on lawyers. He has not said what kind of legal work the campaign money is buying.

PROUD OF EARMARKS

Maybe a dozen protesters picketed Young's campaign event on a cold night in Anchorage. Some focused on opposition to the Iraq war, others on earmarks. Members of Congress insert earmarks into national spending bills to direct money to specific projects and programs. The process has been criticized for lack of hearings or debate over the spending.

Democratic challenger Benson, as well as Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, have asked for an investigation into how a $10 million earmark to study a Florida interchange was inserted into a bill that had already won final congressional approval.

A real estate developer who favored the interchange contributed to Young's campaign. But Young said he favored the earmark because local residents asks for it.

There are conflicting stories about who inserted the earmark.

Young, chairman of the House transportation committee at the time, defended earmarks in general during his Alaska visit last week.

"None of those earmarks were ever put into a bill that wasn't asked for, including in Florida, and I want you to understand that," Young said in a Friday speech at a ports conference in Anchorage.

He said communities across Alaska ask him for earmarks to help with needs the state can't, or won't, provide for.

That's his job, Young said.

"I'm proud of every earmark I've ever gotten," he said. "That's really what you ask me to do."

Protesters outside Young's campaign event at the Sourdough Mining Company said they hope to be in his face wherever he goes on the campaign trail. John Fairleigh, an organizer of the protest, said he wants to make it more difficult for Young to campaign.

"I'd like this many or more protesters to greet him every time he goes out into public, so he fears to go out into public," he said.

Fairleigh carried a sign with Young's picture that read: "This little piggy sold earmarks." He said that supporting earmarks is like supporting embezzlement.

Some of the protesters who tried to go into the Young campaign event were kicked out. One woman, Dagmar Mikko, said she was pushed.

ON THE STUMP

Young's Anchorage campaign event was a drinks-and-dinner affair, with political notables like GOP party chair Ruedrich and former Democratic Gov. Bill Sheffield among the crowd.

Young took the microphone and said he and his supporters have to get out and talk to voters.

"And convince people I am still there, my heart is still there, my dedication is still there. Nobody knows this state better than I do," Young said.

A campaign event earlier in the week at Evangelo's Restaurant in Wasilla was more laid back.

Young chatted with small groups. Some people, like Jack Bohnert of Wasilla, just wanted to say hi. Bohnert said Young understands that Alaska is a young state and has needs.

"He's great," Bohnert said. "I've voted for him every time now for 20 years."

Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call him at 257-4344.

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