Anchorage Daily News

Anchorage developer David Cuddy is making another run against Ted Stevens.

Cuddy said he would file a letter of intent after New Year's to run in the 2008 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. He last challenged Stevens over a decade ago.

Cuddy comes from one of Alaska's most prominent banking families. He's a former state legislator and used to be president of First National Bank of Anchorage. He spent time earlier this decade living in Los Angeles, consulting for the entertainment industry.

Cuddy spent roughly $1 million, most of that from his own bank account, in an unsuccessful effort to wrest the party nomination from Stevens in 1996. Cuddy got just 27 percent of the primary vote then.

Cuddy, 55, ran that race as a conservative who said he wanted to shrink government and cut taxes. It turned into a hard-hitting campaign in which Cuddy accused Stevens in a series of advertisements of breaking the law and abusing the perks of power. The Federal Election Commission ended up dismissing a claim by Cuddy that Stevens' 1990 campaign committee improperly spent campaign contributions on him and his staff.

Cuddy said Friday that in this race he doesn't plan to make an issue of the federal investigation of Stevens.

The FBI and IRS raided Stevens' Girdwood home in late July as part of a probe into corruption in Alaska politics. Stevens has not been charged.

But Cuddy said he does intend to focus on the broad issues of government reform and clean elections. He has said it's a question of whether voters want pork or good government.

Cuddy announced his plan to run late on Friday afternoon; Tim McKeever, who is acting as spokesman for Stevens' re-election effort, couldn't be reached for comment.

Anchorage pollster Dave Dittman said Friday night he thinks Cuddy could pose a challenge for Stevens.

Cuddy "will have a ways to go in re-establishing himself," said Dittman, who is doing work for the Stevens campaign.

But Ivan Moore, another Anchorage pollster and campaign consultant, earlier this week was dismissive of Cuddy's ability to seriously threaten Stevens in a Republican primary race.

"He may be in trouble, his negatives may be up, but he's still Ted," said Moore.

Moore often works for Democratic candidates. Democrats believe Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich would give Stevens real problems. Begich said he hasn't made up his mind whether to run.

Ray Metcalfe, a former state legislator and founder of the Republican Moderate Party, is running for the U.S. Senate seat as a Democrat.

Rocky Caldero of Dutch Harbor and Frank Vondersaar of Homer have also filed to run as Democrats. Jerry Heikes of Palmer has filed to run for the U.S. Senate seat as a Republican.

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

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