By Mike Dingman, Alaska Standard Contributor

I had the distinct pleasure of attending the University of Alaska Anchorage College Republicans State Convention at the Petroleum Club on Tuesday June 22nd. Until recently, the College Republicans (CR’s) have had a very short and fairly non-existent history at UAA. Jason Cline, Ryan McKee, Jeremiah Campbell and others have resurrected this club with the help of Casey Reynolds and the Alaska Republican Party and have transformed it into a significant and contributing member of the political scene in Alaska. This event was a testament to that fact. The atmosphere was top-notch, the food and drink were first class and the room was filled with all of the Alaska Republican power brokers.

In attendance were most of the high profile candidates and elected officials such as Ralph Samuels, Jay Ramras, Joe Miller, Dan Saddler, Eddie Burke, Janette Reddington, Senators Lesil McGuire and Kevin Meyer, a large contingent from the Bill Walker campaign and many others. These candidates have seen what most everybody else has also noticed – the CR’s have proven their value in the winning Dan Sullivan mayoral campaign and the very successful Andy Clary and Adam Trombley Assembly campaigns in which two completely unknown candidates nearly defeated their well-known opponents. One campaign that obviously missed the memo was the Parnell campaign, since they were the only large scale statewide campaign that sent nobody to this important event.

Now, it is easy to understand that the Governor could not make it to the event, after all he has a busy schedule creating new state positions for sitting state legislators, nonetheless you would think that someone supporting the campaign would have been in attendance. I have heard many refer to the Parnell Campaign as a “paper campaign”. I have never met anybody from the Parnell campaign at any local political events. I have seen no Parnell supporters waving signs, showing up to various public gatherings or doing any sort of campaigning. Where is the Parnell campaign? Has a missing persons report been filed? If you can find a Parnell supporter – well find one first, and we will go from there.

Parnell’s Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) report reads like a “Who’s Who” of lobbyists, labor unions and political action committees with relatively few individual donors to be found. There is seemingly no grass-roots or active community within the Parnell campaign at all. When is the last time you met a person excited to elect Sean Parnell? Those who are excited to elect Samuels or Walker are coming out of the woodwork. When you ask any Samuels or Walker supporter why they support their candidate prepare yourself to be there a while and listen to them gush about their candidate like a cheerleader talking about the star quarterback. Those supporting Walker and Samuels are sporting bumper stickers on their cars, t-shirt and buttons – every possible accessory they can find. Those supporting Parnell, must be doing so very quietly because they are not seemingly visible to the general public.

Unscientific polls on the websites of various news organizations show a tight race between Walker and Samuels because those types of polls draw the rabid supporters of candidates. There seems to be no passion out there for the Parnell campaign. The primary election should be about the grass-roots. It should be about the members of a party reaching out to tell the party where they stand and who they support. It should be about the members of the party expressing their views on the issues through the votes that they cast. Every member of the party should be excited to rush to the polls on August 24th and pull the lever for their candidate.

The success of the College Republican’s statewide convention is a good sign for the future of the Alaska Republican Party. It shows that there is a vibrant base of young Republicans passionate about politics and about conservative candidates. The absence of this passionate, grass-roots, supporter driving style campaign on the ground for Parnell is in sharp contrast to the success of the CR’s and hopefully shows the difference between the incoming power structure with a proven successful track record and the outgoing power structure leaving with a legacy of failure.

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