Alaskan backs gun rights, small government.

In Begich, Senate is getting a different type of Democrat

By Michael R. Blood

Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska's incoming senator is bullish on gun rights, wants to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, and believes less government is better. And he's a Democrat.

But "definitely different than a New York Democrat," Mark Begich says.

Begich, 46, the two-term mayor of Anchorage, will take office in January after narrowly defeating Ted Stevens, 85, the longest-serving Republican in Senate history. Part of Stevens' undoing in his bid for a seventh term was his conviction last month on federal felony charges.

With Republican Gov. Sarah Palin, 44, and GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, 51, Begich represents the new political landscape in the nation's northernmost state.

Begich says he is part of a generational break with Stevens and others in the state's political old guard, a theme that Palin, the defeated Republican vice presidential candidate, also has expressed often.

Begich says his concerns are in large part bipartisan, in contrast to the rigid orthodoxy often practiced in Washington.

As a Democrat from a state long regarded as a conservative GOP stronghold, Begich hopes to use his party-bridging style to achieve political goals, such as winning over Congress on drilling in the wildlife refuge, an issue that has been stalled for years.

Asked about Palin, Begich singled out one of her signature issues - building a pipeline to tap the vast natural-gas reserves on Alaska's North Slope.

"Right now, I think her issues are very similar to mine. We need to create jobs and opportunity for the state," he said.

Palin, who at one point had called for Stevens to step aside, issued a statement the day after Begich's election victory was confirmed, saying: "This is a new era for Alaska."

Stevens served in the Senate for four decades, earning a reputation for bringing billions in federal aid to his home state. He is of the same generation as former Gov. Frank Murkowski, 75, who was ousted by Palin.

Unlike Stevens' famously cantankerous personality, Begich is known for being affable, approachable and polite.

To some, the changing of the political dynamics in Alaska was inevitable.

"There's not much left of anybody's old guard," said State Rep. Mike Doogan, an Anchorage Democrat.

Part of the change in Alaskan politics is not just new faces in office - it comes from the state's large transient population.

Workers who come from elsewhere in search of jobs don't have much loyalty to long-serving politicians such as Stevens.

Palin was elected after promising to take on Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips Co. and BP P.L.C., the multinational energy companies that long have dominated the state's biggest industry.

"The Alaska Legislature has been essentially subservient to the industry since 1977, when oil production began," University of Alaska Anchorage historian Steve Haycox said. "That's changing."