Most political predictions should come with a mandatory disclaimer that reads "These thoughts are unburdened by fact or knowledge." It's a policy I've long subscribed to due to the fluid nature of politics.

The word for 2006 is accountability.

Less than twenty four hours after the conclusion of the National Football League's regular season, five NFL teams fired their head coach. Why? Because they failed to do the job they were hired to do.

 With the new year arriving at the front door, now is a good time to see just where we are with the race to be Alaska's next Governor in 2006.

On the Democratic ticket both State Rep. Ethan Berkowitz and State Rep. Eric Croft remain the only announced candidates. Rumors have been circulating about former Governor Tony Knowles entering the race. With Knowles high name recognition he can afford to wait until the field gets a little more set.

message: There are lots of new names on the APOC list as candidates for State House/Senate. Do you know or can you comment on any of them?
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As of December 28, 2005 there are currently 79 statewide candidates who have filed their letter of intent. 51 are incumbents and the remaining 28 are challengers. 

In politics today debates about public policy always seem to boil down to the absolutes: Either you support my idea or you don't.

Whatever happened to the need to seek intelligent and qualified answers versus asking someone to simply choose sides? More importantly, what ever happened to sensible yes...but.

The race in 2006 for Alaska's next Lt. Governor is as always, going to be determined by the top of the ticket. The question of who is the favorite to emerge from both the Republican and Democratic primaries is still a long ways away as very few have actually filed to run for the position.

Sen. Seekins to back off on run for governor
Lawmaker won't run against Murkowski; he'll instead run for re-election

By ANDREW PETTY
JUNEAU EMPIRE Sen. Ralph Seekins, R-Fairbanks, said Wednesday he will no longer focus his efforts on running for governor this year unless Gov. Frank Murkowski decides not to run for re-election.