Alaska Libertarian Party congratulates Sarah Palin

by Eric Dondero

In the late Fall and early Winter of 2006, I spent two months up in Alaska working for the Libertarian Party of AK, on an initiative to overturn the ban on smoking at Anchorage bars and bingo parlors. During that time I had the pleasure of spending a great deal of time with Libertarian Party of Alaska State Chairman Jason Dowell. Jason is 32, and works at a well-known downtown Anchorage restaurant. I even crashed on Jason's couch a few nights.

I was there at the height of the election season. Jason and I got to know the Sarah Palin campaign volunteers and staffers. During the final three days of the election, we volunteered for her Campaign. In fact, by chance, we ended up waving signs with Sarah Palin herself, and her Mom on the busiest street corner in all of Anchorage for about 3 to 4 hours. We stood with Sarah, her Mom and two other volunteers right in the very narrow median waving the bright red signs to passers by right at rush hour. (Photo of one of her sign waving events.)

In fact, as soon as Sarah Palin realized who it was that was by her side, she turned to Jason and gave him a big hug and thank you for volunteering for her campaign. Then she shouted out excitedly to her Campaign Manager across the street, "The Libertarians are here... They're endorsing my campaign..."

On Election Night Jason and I made our way to the Egan Center in downtown Anchorage for the traditional gathering of all Alaska politicos and media. Thousands were there. That day Libertarian Gubernatorial candidate the ever-flamboyant Billy Toien told other Libertarians that they should just vote for Sarah, and not him. He had dropped hints of this at previous "debates" with Sarah and the dreaded Democrat candidate fmr. Governor Tony Knowles. Jason also informed other Libertarians that he was "voting for Sarah" as LP State Chairman. Libertarian stalwart Rob Cliff, LPA State Secretary, and organizer of the Ancorage LP weekly meetings, agreed. Rob had hosted Palin as a speaker to the LP of Anchorage supper club in May of that year.

We met Billy, and about 6 or 7 other Libertarian Party members at Egan. We all sat at one round table that was reserved for the LP. Billy was still joking around that he had actually voted for Sarah and not himself. Nobody could tell if he was serious or not. Some of the more radical LPers just shook their heads.

By about 9:00 pm the big board was showing Sarah Palin comfortably ahead. By about 9:30 pm it was clear she had won.

Around that time she strolled in with a legion of hootin' and hollerin' supporters. She eventually made her way up to the podium.

During her gracious but enthusiastic acceptance speech, Governor-elect Palin, mentioned the Libertarian Party twice, and went out of her way to point to "her friend" Billy Toien seated at the nearby table of Libertarians, and to thank him for his support and the support of the Libertarian Party.

After the speech, Jason Dowell was one of the first individuals she shaked hands with and gave a hug too. It was clear that the Libertarian Party of Alaska was a welcome member of her coalition.

Today, Jason Dowell posts this blog entry at the official Libertarian Party of Alaska website:

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF ALASKA CONGRATULATES SARAH PALIN

By now, most, if not all have heard the news about presidential contender McCain choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. This blog would like to remind libertarians that Governor Palin has in the past taken her time to address and hear the concerns of the Alaska Libertarian Party.

Palin once described herself as in agreement with many libertarian values when she was running for Governor in 2006. Eric Dondero, a libertarian republican activist for many years, writes a good article describing Palin’s libertarian tendencies.

Is Palin a full-blown libertarian? No. Is she the best person for the job? I’m pretty partial to Wayne Allyn Root, the Vice Presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party. Bob Barr’s choice for veep, Root has an extensive resume, and is a businessman, television producer and author.

Overall, the selection of Sarah Palin by McCain is a good thing. McCain could have picked rabid gun control advocates Rudy Guliani, Michael Bloomberg or Joe Lieberman, all of whom were mentioned as under consideration by McCain as a running mate.