The recount in Minnesota, Al Franken, and why I am completely over Ethan Berkowitz.

With the recount in Minnesota complete. (Finally!) Al Franken now leads Norm Coleman by 225 votes. This up from the 49 votes that Franken had led by previously, and way up from back when he was actually trailing Coleman right after the election.

Now this is by no means finished, but at this point I have to believe that when the dust finally settles Al Franken will stand victorious as the new Democratic Senator from the great stated of Minnesota. And the victory will be even more sweet because he fought so damn hard for it.

So I sit here tonight completely jealous of Minnesota. The man they will soon have representing them is a fighter. He is tough, he is confident, and he is a winner. In other words he is everything I would want in an Alaskan Democrat.

And I have one, just one, in our new Senator Mark Begich. But I wanted two.

I wanted two new Democrats from Alaska to go to Washington. One of them made me proud, the other let me down.

Yeah Ethan Berkowitz I am talking to you!

Today Politico referred to your loss to Don Young as one of the "Top Ten Political Upsets of 2008". (H/T to Phil Munger.)

In the contest for Alaska’s lone House seat, most analysts had left incumbent Republican Don Young for dead. Though Young has served in the House since 1973, bringing in piles of federal money for Alaskan projects, a federal corruption investigation was supposed to spell ballot box doom for the cranky appropriator.

After barely surviving a primary challenge from Sarah Palin’s lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell, Young faced a strong Democratic opponent in former state House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz. But Young ended up winning by a five-point margin – confounding polls that showed him trailing consistently.

When election night ended on November 4th, I was not satisfied. I was ecstatic that Obama had won, but I was upset that Begich was trailing Stevens. This did not feel right, and so I blogged about it, and so did Shannyn Moore. And with the media paying close attention Begich emerged the victor!

But I was not yet done. I still felt that Ethan should have won! So I talked to every political rabble rouser I could think of here in town, and I called experts on stealing elections all over the country. We had them ready to fly up here and delve into the mystery of Alaska's voter turnout, the strange inconsistencies in the returns, and the question of how the vote could have split to elect one ethically challenged politician while rebuffing the other.

I had friends ready to make placards, political bloggers warming up their typing hands, and citizens volunteering to provide money. We were, if I may, "fired up and ready to go".

And then Ethan just gave up.

He conceded.

I wrote to his campaign asking them to reconsider. No answer.

I would have fought for Ethan Berkowitz. I would still be fighting for Ethan Berkowitz if he had decided to contest the election results. There is simply no "quit" in me. But with no candidate, there is no fight.

And do you know what? We would have won. I just know it. I can't prove it. But I just know it.

So now I am over Ethan Berkowitz. He let me down.

I will NEVER support him again. Not even for dogcatcher.

Because we need tough Democrats up here in Alaska. We need Al Franken Democrats up here in Alaska.

People will say I am not being fair to Ethan. That perhaps I don't understand the complexities of politics in Alaska.

Maybe. But I know how to fight. And I know how to win. And I know that nobody gets to win if the bell rings and they cannot, or will not, come out of their corner with their gloves up ready to do battle. And the proof of that is in Minnesota.