Alaska’s Senate race has been more about the candidates thanthe issues

While for nearly fifty years Alaska has tended to vote for Republican candidates in federal and state elections, in 2008 it elected a Democratic Senator in the form of Mark Begich. Gerald McBeath writes that this midterm cycle, Begich faces a strong challenge from Republican Dan Sullivan, whose campaign has criticized the incumbent over his Senate record and his links to the unpopular President Obama. Unreliable polling, a large number of undecided voters, and millions of contributions from SuperPACs on both sides, mean that the result in America’s northernmost state is difficult to predict.