A candidate's primer: winning votes in the Bush.

AuthorBohi, Heidi
PositionNATIVE BUSINESS: SPECIAL SECTION

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Far be it from a good old Oklahoma boy to ever tell a table of sweet Yupi'k elder women he's just introduced himself to that he's not going to eat the plate of food they are offering him. Even if it is muktuk, whale blubber and skin that is a delicacy to many Alaska Natives.

"It looked like the whitewall of a Goodyear tire," former Gov. Tony Knowles says, reflecting back on his visit to a Messenger Feast in Bethel while he was there campaigning to try and win the 1990 gubernatorial race.

Just when he prepares to pop it in his mouth, Willie Hensley, campaigning for lieutenant governor at the same time, decides to see what his friend Knowles is made of and says with a big grin on his face, "Tony, you need to dip the muktuk in this seal oil--it's one of our traditions."

"All the women were looking at this guy from Anchorage," Knowles says laughing. "Dipping that muktuk in seal oil was the real dividing line. After I put it in my mouth, for about 15 seconds, I didn't know which direction it was going to go--up or down. But I managed to put the big swallow on it. And I think I won some votes there."

NO MAGIC FORMULA

Stumping Bush Alaska for votes--it's one of the most critical components of any campaign strategy in a statewide race, as candidates are judged by their stance on issues ranging from major resource projects in rural Alaska to the village energy crisis and suicide prevention. The Bush can account for up to about 20 percent of the total vote, so a good showing in rural communities can mean the difference between victory and loss.

Ask Knowles. He has four statewide races on his vitae--three gubernatorial and one congressional--and when he won the 1994 race for governor, it was undeniably because of this bank of voters, which he describes as "enormously supportive." The night of the election he went to bed thinking he had lost, though the Nome District had not been counted, which comprises about 8,500 voters. Ultimately, after three recounts, Knowles carried 80 percent of the vote in rural Alaska and won the general election with 536 votes to spare.

POLITICS IS PERSONAL

Nobody has ever studied or written about Knowles' popularity in rural Alaska. Among pollsters and cronies, though, he is known for having the touch. Issues aside, even in the elections he did not win, he had a strong showing of support in the villages. It was his successes that made statewide candidates look at campaigning here differently.

"In...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT