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JUNEAU — Alaska Republicans crowded polling places Tuesday to vote for their choice for the party’s presidential nominee.
All of the GOP’s major candidates — Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich — were competing in the race that Romney won four years ago.
Romney was maintaining a slight lead in the Alaska Republican presidential preference poll last night. With 79 percent of the vote counted, Romney had 33 percent of the vote. Santorum was close behind, with 30 percent. Paul was third, with 22 percent, and Gingrich has 15 percent.
In Alaska’s capital city, voters began showing up as soon as the polling place at the Juneau Yacht Club opened. One polling place in Anchorage had lines before the polls opened at 4 p.m., and no place to park, even on side streets.
Romney took 183 Juneau votes, Santorum 125, Paul 87 and Gingrich 44 said Ben Brown of the Capital City Republicans.
Statewide numbers were not yet available as the Juneau Empire went to press.
Among those at the yacht club was Barbara Fiscus, 44, who voted for Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator.
Fiscus, a stay-at-home Juneau mother who homeschools her children, said a number of issues are important to her, from the economy to moral issues. When picking a candidate, she said it came down to whom she considered the most conservative.
“I just think it’s such an important vote,” she said. “I wanted to make sure my conservative voice was heard.”
Joe Geldhof, 60, was poll watching for Romney’s campaign. Geldhof, an attorney, said he gave money to Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor who failed to gain traction and announced last year that he’d seek the Libertarian nomination. Geldhof said he also was interested in Jon Huntsman until he “flopped.”
He said Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is serious, and would probably be a better president than he is a candidate. “He excites nobody, but I think he has administrative experience,” Geldhof said.
Twenty-four delegates are up for grabs in the Alaska GOP’s presidential preference poll, one of 10 contests held Tuesday. Allocation of delegates Tuesday will be proportional. Alaska has three other delegates, state party leaders who will attend the national convention as unpledged, bringing Alaska’s overall delegate total to 27.
Only registered Republicans, or Alaskans who register as Republicans on site, could participate. Alaska does not have presidential primaries.
Robert File of Juneau voted for Paul. “We’ve lost our way,” said File, 81. “The government thinks we can live on the future. That’s impossible. We owe too much money.” Paul, a Texas congressman, is the only one in the race with “any brains,” he said.
Editor’s note: The Juneau Empire added local returns to this story.
Comments (10)
Add commentI'm with Geldhof
Johnson and Huntsman were the two sane ones in the bunch.
If there was a new, centrist party made up of the few remaining moderate republicans and the 'blue dog' democrats, they could shed the fringe lunatics from both parties and actually focus on the real issues facing the country.
We'd get thoughtful, honest candidates rather than what we're seeing here.
@Lat58
I can't agree with you more... I am starting to hate both parties equally and I wish that the independent party was not always the left-over candidates from the D or R primary elections. If Trump somehow runs as a independent that would bring that party to a new all-time low! I also think that all 'news' shows on both FOX and MSNBC should come with parental warnings before they begin, and maybe adults should realize that they are being more manipulated than their children are while watching McDonalds' commercials.
There was a good turnout, but
There was a good turnout, but they really needed someone directing traffic or something. Parking was an absolute cluster! Trucks full of snow speeding through and dumping, people parking all over, and since it was a dark drippy night, you couldnt see anything to try to manouver the maze. And to top it off, people were everywhere and hurrying through the cars to get out of the weather. Amazed no one got ran over. Got in, made my mark, and got the heck out!
Convention Meeting
As a young Republican college student, this was my first caucus experience. I spent hours looking over the state party platform, and came up with a few changes and revisions which I thought would be valuable. I was EXTREMELY disappointed by the conduct of the old guard Republican leadership at the district convention meeting. There was almost no discussion about party platform issues. The whole thing seemed like just a rush to reelect the party officials. When it came time to elect delegates to attend the state convention, the chairperson immediately introduced three motions to lock-in the same 'deserving' leadership that has been running the Juneau GOP for decades. The district convention meeting should be an opportunity to introduce new voices and discuss changes and revisions to the party platform.
@dxwilke
Dude, there was no discussion about party platform issues because they rarely change, unless it's for the worse. So I thought I'd condense your party's platform here for you:
1. Promote hatred and misinformation about gay culture. Call them "homosexuals" instead of "gays." Oppose any civil rights legislation that would allow gays equal rights, such as marriage.
2. Inject christianity into every school and textbook possible.
3. Worship the flag and the Second Amendment. Buy lots of guns. Arm everyone, everywhere.
4. Censor dirty words in songs, books, art, or anything that goes against the judeo-christian model of God.
5. Keep God on our money and in our laws.
6. Privatize everything, starting with prisons, then schools.
7. Oppose any taxes whatsoever, especially on the wealthiest of our party.
8. Oppose a woman's right to govern her own body, her own health and her reproductive cycle. Oppose all women's rights.
9. Cut all government services.
10. Abolish Medicaid, Medicare, welfare and any social program that might help the impoverished.
11. Tax cuts for the rich.
12. Define personhood to include corporations.
13. Oppose access to contraception. Make all girls sign an abstinence pledge at birth.
14. Drill everywhere in ANWAR and kill as many caribou as necessary.
15. Worship Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and other vomit.
16. Abolish any laws which regulate mining safety which might cost the mining companies any money to initiate.
17. Buy politicians.
18. Regurgitate anything you hear spoken by the FNBs (Fox News Blonds).
19. Endorse torture and pre-emptive military strikes against anyone we want.
20. Buy stock in defense contractors, then start a war.
Did I miss any?
Crowded.... polling places...
Really?
Only open 4-8 and then downtown at the yacht club? How did that go with driving through the harbor area in the snow? I did not register my preference, sorry, but it would have been nice to have polling place (s) (plural) for those of us not downtown........ I find it hard to believe it was crowded also as the numbers do not indicate that... oh well. I guess I get to pick from a list later to see if I can find the "least of the two evils".. bummer.
Wow "jo" you have a serious
Wow "jo" you have a serious hatred problem.
Old Jo and Bad Luck Barack
I thought the Juneau primary was good, participative democracy. The volunteers that worked so hard are to be thanked by everyone. It was great that it was crowded and that so many young, new voters came. So long as someone beats Barack Hussein Obama I will be happy. I didn't vote for the winner this week but a Mormon beats a Muslim any day of the week. Old Jo seems to be a typical angry Democrat, and I suppose that the government hasn't done enough for him.
Comment for MacNamara
You should have come to the primary. You would have seen better democracy than anyone should expect to see for the next one hundred years in Iraq and Afghanistan (where Bad Luck Barack is sacrificing American lives to bring democracy where it isn't wanted).
I didn't notice a single Democrat at the Saturday night event held for our wounded soldier. There may have been a few there but all the elected officials and all the executive branch and legislative staffers there were Republicans. That probably surprises no one.