Begich Could Be Tough To Unseat In Alaska

A few months ago the political pundits were saying the Republicans could win several senate seats currently held by Democrats, and flip the Senate over to Republican control. But their obstructionism has caused voters to rethink their views about the GOP. Now the Republicans may be fighting to hold on to several seats they thought they had in the bag -- like the GOP seats in Kentucky and Georgia.

One of the Democratic seats the GOP was counting on winning was the seat currently held by Mark Begich in Alaska. Alaska is a pretty red state, and Begich was believed to be in trouble their. But now a new poll shows he could be in a lot better shape than anyone thought. That survey is a Hays Research Poll released on August 30th. It is an independent poll (not financed by either party) that surveyed 388 likely Alaska voters, and has a 4.9 point margin of error.

That poll showed that Begich has a comfortable lead over his probable opponent -- Republican Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell. Begich is polling at 50.4%, while Treadwell is at only 38.5% (and 11.1% of voters are unsure of who to support). That's a lead of nearly 12 points for Begich.

Of course it is still very early to put much credence into a poll for a 2014 race. There is plenty of time for anything to happen. It is even remotely possible that someone could beat Treadwell for the GOP nomination -- but that would probably have to be Sarah Palin, who has been teasing her supporters with that possibility for a while now. I doubt that would worry Begich much though, since another poll by Hays Research, released on August 21st, shows he has an even wider lead over a possible Palin candidacy (54.8% to 37.3%) -- a 17.5 point lead.

The Republicans could rebound and win this seat, but as this poll shows, it's going to be a lot harder than originally thought.