Alaska News

Don Young still has a certain charm

I think this is Don Young's last campaign. And I think it's time for me to confess that, after 35 years as our congressman, his rough charm is finally beginning to work on me. I like being around Don Young these days.

My old Fairbanks friend Paul Blackwell would be ashamed of me. Paul, a diehard Democrat, made getting rid of Congressman Don Young his top priority. I watched him tell pollsters exactly that. A Texan from the Lubbock area, Paul had "Remember the Alamo" tattooed on his left arm. I thought "Forget Don Young" should go on his right.

Last week, I interviewed Don on "Running," KAKM's meet-the-candidate series. Alaskans familiar with Don's bombast and bluster forget he can be effective on television -- focused, disciplined, succinct. He also knows how to use the clock. Tell him he's got 30 seconds left, and he will use 26. Perfect.

Of course he still loves to tell fairy tales -- for example, the financial crisis is Rep. Barney Frank's fault. And he abuses the English language so badly he leaves the literati laughing -- as when he denounced "negatism" and dared John McCain to "subtain" earmark vetoes if he becomes president.

Don's also inclined to tell stories that contain what Huckleberry Finn liked to call "stretchers" -- facts stretched by the author. As when, off camera on the "Running" set, he told me that in 1972 he lost to incumbent Congressman Nick Begich by three points. The actual number was 12.

Or when he said he has been in Congress longer than Congressman David Obey of Wisconsin. Obey arrived in 1969; Don arrived in 1973.

Or that he spent 90 days alone on the trap line. Maybe the time he spent alone felt like 90 days: My dad trapped for 38 years, and he never spent 90 days alone. The psychological burden of 90 days would leave gregarious men like Don and my dad talking to the fence post and praying for an answer.

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Or, finally, when he told ADN reporter Sean Cockerham in the green room next to the TV studio he doesn't believe in negative campaigning. This from the guy who named his Republican primary opponent Sean Parnell "Captain Zero."

But Don remembers Alaska in the late '50s and early '60s, my youth, before I went off to college in New York and North Carolina, and I enjoy hearing him reminisce. He also remembers the political leaders of my youth, and I enjoy hearing him describe them.

Don always comes to the television studio with his wife, Lu, and it's clear they have a caring relationship. After getting Don ready for television, Lu got me ready too. My hair wouldn't lie down properly in the dry air, so Lu took my hairbrush and enforced some discipline on my unruly mop. "There," she said when done. "Now you're ok for TV."

When the taping session was finished, the Youngs seemed satisfied with the results. Don gave me a big handshake, Lu gave me a big hug, and with a couple of staffers in tow, they boisterously headed for the door.

My hour at the station with Don and Lu seems in retrospect so Alaskan. Like waiting at a Bush airport for an overdue airplane. People begin to talk and get friendly enough even if they seem to have little in common. It's the thing to do given where you are, given you could be there all day. And if someone in the crowd is a good storyteller, so much the better.

Michael Carey is the former editorial page editor of the Anchorage Daily News. He can be reached at mcarey@adn.com

MICHAEL CAREY

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Michael Carey

Michael Carey is an occasional columnist and the former editorial page editor of the Anchorage Daily News.

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