Anchorage Daily News

GOVERNOR WHO? . . . OMG! What can even a Divine Appendage say that hasn't already been said? The guy is 72 years old and has a tendency to grow cancer. Shall we practice putting the words "President" and "Sarah" together? "Governor" and "Colberg?"

The regular news is full of earable notes and quotes but here's a few you may have missed:

• Former union rep and Alaska Democratic Party activist Frank Smith, quoted in the Wall Street Journal: "Sarah is a small town mayor running Alaska as if it's a small town . . . McCain is out of his mind. He has no foreign policy experience and she'll help because she's been fishing in Canada?"

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, on CNN, fielding a question about Sarah's lack of foreign policy experience: "She took on Ted Stevens. If she can take on Ted Stevens, she can take on the Russians."

Earnote: If she and Ted both win in November, she'll be his boss. The only real job the vice president has is to be president of the Senate.

• From "The Daily Dish" blog by Andrew Sullivan at Atlantic Monthly:"

"She named two daughters after television witches, and smoked pot when it was legal in Alaska, and inhaled. She's also very gay-friendly. It makes me like her. I'm not so sure how the most devout in the base will respond. Her Down Syndrome baby will help, I'm sure -- and her decision to bring him into the world is a beautiful, beautiful thing."

Earnote: Her daughters are named, Willow, Bristol and Piper, after the town, the bay and the plane.

• From a press release issued shortly after the news broke: "The Miss America Organization is pleased to announce that former Miss Alaska contestant, Sarah Heath Palin, has just been named as John McCain's vice-presidential candidate on the Republican ticket."

• Sarah and John McCain made long-distance appearances on the Bob and Mark radio show Friday morning, which may explain why competitor Rick Rydell started calling the governor Sarah "Pallin" on the air. Ear thinks Rydell, a Sarahater, was just making fun of several CNN broadcasters who didn't know how to pronounce the unknown Alaska governor's name.

A QUESTION . . . When that long-planned People Magazine article comes out next week, will Sarah now be on the cover?

Duh.

DON KNOTS . . . Darlings, when you go to church today, pray for The Divine Appendage. Ear is 151 votes from a nervous breakdown. That's Don (Congressman for All Alaskans Who Voted for Him) Young's lead over Lite Gov. Sean Parnell. With thousands of votes still to be counted, it's just not enough to relax. Sure, Don will probably win, but what if he doesn't? How will Ear survive without him?

Remember: "You don't hunt rabbits on a pool table just because it's green?" Remember "myramid" and "frutation?" As for "Pribilof's dogs," let's not even go there.

Does anyone think we'll get this kind of material from Sean, or from Ethan Berkowitz?

Pray, darlings. Pray really hard.

VERBATIM . . . From a broadcast wire service: "Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Republican voters will hold a party primary on Tuesday to decide if indicted Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) gets shot at a seventh term. The state GOP primary will pit Stevens with six contenders, including 59-year-old banker Vicki Vickers and former state legislator David Cuddy."

FLYING FACTOID . . . Speaking of Vic Vickers, according to the last returns Ear saw, 5,204 Alaskans voted for him. That's like 5 percent of the vote for Senator. Darlings, who are these people? Ear would like a list of their names and suggests they all be immediately disqualified for a PFD.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT . . . There was one precinct whose votes were missing Wednesday morning, when the numbers got tallied: Hughes, an Interior village, couldn't call in results because the phones were out. For earmites keeping track, here's the numbers: 37 people voted, 36 of them in the U.S. House race, with following results:

Democrat Ethan Berkowitz, 14. Democrat Diane Benson, 13. Alaskan Independent Don Wright, 8. Republican Gabrielle LeDoux, 1. Republican Sean Parnell, 0. Republican Don Young, 0.

In the Senate race, Begich got 22 and Cuddy got 1. A bunch of people didn't vote for anyone in that race.

No one voted for Vic Vickers.

DEFENSIVE . . . Other things did happen this week. It wasn't all politics. For instance, friends report lobbyist Ashley Reed flew to Juneau and entered a not-guilty plea to those misdemeanor charges about filing APOC disclosure statements late. OK, maybe that's politics too.

ON THE MOVE . . . TV news babe Megan Baldino is gone from the local screen and soon from the state. She's going to a TV job in South Bend, Ind., at a station owned by the same people who now own Channel 2. Time for new challenges and it's closer to family, says Megan.

• Long time ADN sports reporter Van Williams, and features editor Kirsten Schultz both left the paper last week. Kirsten is going to Providence hospital's public information office. Van is questing after a new life. No details yet.

• In the middle of all the fuss Friday, Sarah officially elevated Kodiak Superior Court Judge Joel Bolger to the Alaska Court of Appeals. He fills the vacancy created by Judge David Stewart's retirement. The press release was datelined "Dayton, Ohio."

DO SEND A FONDU . . . to ADN newsie Julia O'Malley (Yes, she's one of those O'Malleys), and Sara Boario, who works for the U.S. Forest Service. The wedding was yesterday at Alpenglow.

SHHHHH . . . Super pitchman Jim Lottsfeld, who makes his living talking up products and politics, has his jaw wired shut -- for six weeks. Ear inquired. Jim said, "I am on a hunger strike until Dan Fagan improves his TV show." Guess he won't be subbing for Dan on the radio for a while.

VERBATIM 2 . . . Radio mouth Rick Rydell's automatic e-mail sent out the following message to people writing while he was away: "Sorry to have missed you, but I'm exploring the use of tazers in child behavior modification at a double blind study at John Hopkins University. Should be back Tuesday unless they stop me returning at the Alaska border because I have an American passport. I am not sure that Hugo Palin allows US citizens into Alaska anymore."

ON THE TUBE . . . Nate Williamson and Kate Toohey, who run Crow Creek Mine these days, tell Ear the new TV reality show, "America's Toughest Jobs," filmed an episode at the mine that's due to run Sept. 8 on Channel 2 at 9 p.m. Crow Creek is a National Historic site, doing most of its business these days in recreational mining, Nate said, catering mostly to Alaskans.

TRIPLE THREAT . . . Three former newsmen, now making an honest living writing crime books, are staging something called "Murderers Row" next Saturday at Title Wave, 1-3 p.m. It means new books by Mike Doogan and Stan Jones are out, which is a good thing.

Doogan's newest Nik Kane mystery is called "Skeleton Lake." Stan's latest Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active adventure is "Frozen Sun."

Joining them is Tom Brennan, whose collections of true Alaska crime stories are enduring best sellers for Epicenter Press. He's still an editor at voiceofthetimes.net.

OUT AND ABOUT . . . Gregg Carr is back in town and soon to preside over a show of his work here. It's his second solo show and features photographs from his travels over the past few years -- Croatia, Paris, Carmel, St. Tropez, New Orleans, Alaska, Death Valley, St Bart's. Not landscapes, he says. The show opens Friday at the International Gallery of Contemporary Arts, on D Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues.

Compiled by Sheila Toomey. Find Ear online at adn.com/ear. Contact Sheila Toomey at stoomey@adn.com

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