Alaska

Original article:	www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2003/07/08/news/wyoming/ 4f8b9da9b9e870baecf20a54a5516986.txt
Date:	07/08/03
Title:	Free State Project vote set for August
Author:	Nadia White
Publication:	Casper Star Tribune

Free State Project vote set for August

by Nadia White • Star-Tribune staff writer • 07/08/03

Liberty-minded activists will choose which sparsely-populated state will be the focus of their collective political might in a vote beginning in August.

Members of the Free State Project will have until Sept. 8 to vote on which of 10 states they would like to move to in order to advocate for limited government. Wyoming and New Hampshire are top contenders in the effort.

The Free State Project is an effort to sign up 20,000 advocates of limited government to move to a single state in which they can incrementally reduce the reach of government. That effort passed the 4,000-member mark earlier in June, prompting organizers to set a vote date.

The deadline to sign up to participate in the vote is Aug. 15, by which time the FSP should have more than 5,000 members, according to the group's projections. The deadline for members to return their ballots is Sept. 8, and the selected state will be announced on Sept. 15, according to a press release from Jason Sorens, the Yale University doctoral student who founded and leads the effort.

Tom Parker, a Louisville, Colo., resident who serves as the group's liaison to Wyoming, said the movement is a reaction to the current government climate.

"In terms of liberty, we see things drifting away with the latest moves like the USA Patriot Act, and the various wars, now Liberia, we feel our government is not playing by the rules of the Constitution so we're hoping to change things," Parker said. "By concentrating our numbers in one state we're hoping to have more influence and move things more toward liberty."

Eligible voters will be able to choose from among Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. Once the group reaches 20,000 commitments, members have five years in which to move to the chosen state. Some members have already indicated that they will move as soon as the state is chosen, Parker said.

Dennis Brossman, a Wyoming Libertarian, said the project is very appealing.

" I am tempted by the project even if Alaska or Vermont were to try it. I prefer Wyoming, the climate and terrain and being in the heart of the 48 states, but the freedom experiment is very alluring to me," Brossman said. " I'd be willing to move to Alaska."

Brossman said the idea of newcomers changing the way things are done in Wyoming is nothing new.

"I think it's done in other realms, but not so openly and honestly," he said. "For example, in Lander and Jackson in the last 10, 15 years, we've had a large number of environmentalists move in and they heavily affect the policy in these areas."

He said he thinks the plan has a shot: "I think it's something that would be workable and doable. I don't think it's a pipe dream."

The Free State Project posts additional information on its Web site, (http://www.freestateproject.org).

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Region	Porcupine Group	Contact	Email List	FSP Forum	Meeting(s) <!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Northeast	New England (ME VT) (For NH, click here)	Rich Tomasso	Yahoo	Forum
	Mass & RI	Jon Maltz	Yahoo	Forum
	Connecticut	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- Fri 1/21 7pm at Molten Java Coffee Roasters in Bethel, CT. Details. -->
	Tristate (NYC NJ PA CT-suburbs)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
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	Western NY (Buffalo-Niagara-Rochester)	Jason Sorens	Yahoo	Forum
	Western PA	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Mid- Atlantic	Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD se.PA s.NJ n.VA)	Phil Denisch	Yahoo	Forum	Usually the third Saturday of every month. See the FSP Forum for details.
	Appalachians (WV w.MD w.VA)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	Appalachians FSPers are more than welcome at the Mid-Atlantic meetings (above).
	Coastal VA & NC (se.VA ne.NC)	Bryan Stevenson	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- ****************************************************************** -->
South	Florida-all Florida-Suncoast	Tim Condon (Vacant*)	Yahoo Yahoo	Forum Forum	Regularly scheduled dinners in Tampa Bay.
	Georgia	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Alabama (AL w.FL)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Arkansas	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Tennessee	Keith Carlsen	Yahoo	Forum
	Bayou (LA MS)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo
	Carolinas (SC NC e.TN)	Chris Rasch	Yahoo	Forum	Third Saturday of every month at Chris' apartment in Raleigh, 2-4 pm. <!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Midwest	Minnesota	Steve Bottari	Yahoo	Forum	For more info see Meetup.com
	Wisconsin	Richard Whitnable	Yahoo	Forum
	Chicago- Milwaukee (s.WI n.IL ne.IN)	Tim Bauman & Vito Vitkauskas	Yahoo	Forum
	Midwest (MI n.OH ne.IN)	Jeremy Couch	Yahoo	Forum
	St. Louis (e.MO w.IL)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Bluegrass (KY s.OH s.IN se.IL)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	<!-- ****************************************************************** -->
Plains	Breadbasket (SD ND NE)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Kansas (KS w.MO)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
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Mountain	Big Sky (MT ID WY)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
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Southwest	Arizona	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	New Mexico	Amanda Odom Powell	Yahoo	Forum
	Oklahoma	Holland O. Van den Nieuwenhof	Yahoo	Forum
	North Texas U of TX - Dallas	James Strater (Vacant*)	Yahoo Yahoo	Forum
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Pacific	Pacific NW (OR WA)	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	N. California	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum	Bay area local group meetings
	San Diego County	Andrew Del Vecchio	Yahoo	Forum	Irregular meetings, but periodic events with other libertarian orgs.
	Nevada	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Hawaii	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
	Alaska	(Vacant*)	Yahoo	Forum
Region	Porcupine Group	Contact	Email List	FSP Forum	Meeting(s)

* = No one has stepped forward to lead this group, but the email list has been created and is ready for use. If you would like to volunteer to be the local group leader, please contact the Local Group Coordinator.  function chosen(LGstat,LGname){ window.status="Local Group Region "+LGname if (LGstat=="B") { var newwin = window.open("","Volunteer","height=270,width=400") var mailtoaction = "mailto:localgroups@FreeStateProject.org?subject=FSP-LG Coord: "+LGname var mailbody = "I would like more information about becoming a Local Group Coordinator for the "+LGname+" region.'" var wintxt = "Free State Project: Local Groups" wintxt += "

Analysis of Presidential Elections
in the 10 Candidate States

by Keith Carlsen

In Tennyson's report Analyzing the Freedom Orientation of Existing State Populations, he analysed the results of the 2000 presidential election and what it means to the FSP and its members. The gist of that report is in this table:

Voter Predisposition to Vote for Small-government Candidates
(2000 Presidential Election)

Rank	State	Percentage
1	Wyoming	151%
2	Idaho	141%
3	North Dakota	73%
4	Alaska	70%
5	South Dakota	66%
6	Montana	53%
7	New Hampshire	-3%
8	Delaware	-35%
9	Maine	-21%
10	Vermont	-37%

Source: Analyzing the Freedom Orientation of Existing State Populations

By looking at the 2000 election, we see that Wyoming and Idaho come out far above all of the other candidate states. However, one election is just that – one election, and cannot be considered the whole picture.

Nine most recent presidential elections

Here is the data from the nine most recent presidential elections: 2000 – 1968. This data presents a more complete picture of all recent Presidential elections.

	2000		1996		1992		1988	1984	1980	1976		1972	1968
State	Candidate	%	Candidate	%	Candidate	%	Cand.	Cand.	Cand.	Candidate	%	Cand.	Candidate	%
AK	Bush (R)	58.6	Dole (R)	50.8	Bush (R)	39.5	Bush (R)	Reagan (R)	Reagan (R)	Ford (R)		Nixon (R)	Nixon (R)
DE	Gore (D)	55.0	Clinton (D)	51.8	Clinton (D)	43.5				Carter (D)	52.0
ID	Bush (R)	61.2	Dole (R)	52.2	Bush (R)	42.0				Ford (R)
ND	Bush (R)	60.7	Dole (R)	46.9	Bush (R)	44.2
NH	Bush (R)	48.1	Clinton (D)	49.3	Clinton (D)	38.9
ME	Gore (D)	49.1	Clinton (D)	51.6	Clinton (D)	38.81							Humphrey (D)	55.3
MT	Bush (R)	58.4	Dole (R)	44.1	Clinton (D)	37.6							Nixon (R)
SD	Bush (R)	60.3	Dole (R)	46.5	Bush (R)	40.7
VT	Gore (D)	50.6	Clinton (D)	53.3	Clinton (D)	46.1
WY	Bush (R)	67.8	Dole (R)	49.8	Bush (R)	39.5

1 Ross Perot beat George Bush in Maine with 30.44% to 30.39% of the popular vote.
Sources: www.multied.com/elections and www.uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/frametextj.html

(Note: I stopped doing research at the 1968 election because in the 1964, 1960, and 1956 elections, most of the candidate states voted for the same candidate and because the farther back you go, the less representative the data is to the reality of today. Even in the 1970s and 1980s most of the candidate states voted for the same candidate. Before 1956, well, most current Americans were not even alive or at the very least, not even voting back then.)

Republican Totals

The Republican presidential candidates from 1968 to 2000 generally sold themselves as, or were perceived as, or pretended to be, more pro-small government than the Democratic Party presidential candidates. Generally this is the case and is clearly evident by the specific campaign literature and ads of the above presidential candidates.

So we can rank the states by the number of Republican presidential candidates that won their state elections:

Amount for Republicans from 1968 to 2000

Rank	State	GOPs Won
1	Alaska	9
	Wyoming	9
	North Dakota	9
	South Dakota	9
	Idaho	9
6	Montana	8
7	New Hampshire	7
8	Vermont	6
9	Delaware	5
9	Maine	5

Reagan and Goldwater

What about races where a candidate from a major party ran on downsizing the federal government?

This has occured twice in somewhat recent times. In 1980 Ronald Reagan (R) ran for president and in 1964 Barry Goldwater (R) ran for president. Both times, their major issue was Downsizing DC. Reagan communicated the message better and won the 1980 election while Goldwater lost his election.

According to Harry Browne and many others, the media even tried to portray Reagan as more libertarian than he was. Ronald Reagan did not act as a libertarian once in office, but that is how he ran for his first election.

(Note: Votes for the LP candidate, Ed Clark, are included with Reagan's, because Reagan used many of Clark's ideas and this is the best election ever for an LP candidate.)

1980 Election - Vote for Ronald Reagan

Rank	State	Percentage
1	Idaho	68.4%
2	Alaska	66.0%2
3	North Dakota	65.5%
4	Wyoming	65.2%
5	South Dakota	61.7%
6	Montana	59.5%
7	New Hampshire	58.2%
Entire U.S.		51.8%
8	Delaware	48.0%
9	Maine	46.6%
10	Vermont	45.3%

2 Ed Clark got 11.7% of the 66.0% total.
(He got < 3% in all the other FSP candidate states)
Source: www.presidentelect.org/e1980.html

Barry Goldwater only had the opportunity to run for office because the paleo-conservative and the libertarian Republicans were able to take over the Republican Party primary and hand the nomination to Barry Goldwater. The national GOP did not even support his bid for president after he was nominated. All records show that Barry Goldwater was set on dramatically reducing the size of government and those in change of the GOP wanted nothing to do with him or such ideas.

1964 Election - Vote for Barry Goldwater

Rank	State	Percentage
1	Idaho	49.1%
2	South Dakota	44.4%
3	Wyoming	43.4%
4	North Dakota	41.9%
5	Montana	40.6%
6	Delaware	38.8%
Entire U.S.		38.5%
7	New Hampshire	36.1%
8	Alaska	34.1%
9	Vermont	33.7%
10	Maine	31.2%

Source: www.multied.com/elections/1964state.html

Average of Reagan and Goldwater elections

Rank	State	Percentage
1	Idaho	58.7%
2	Wyoming	54.3%
3	North Dakota	53.6%
4	South Dakota	53.1%
5	Alaska	50.1%
5	Montana	50.1%
7	New Hampshire	47.2%
Entire U.S.		45.1%
8	Delaware	43.4%
9	Vermont	39.5%
10	Maine	38.9%

Conclusions

I computed this table by averaging the "Amount of Republicans from 1968 to 2000" and "Average of Reagan and Goldwater elections" rankings:

Total Average Ranking According to this Report

1	Idaho
2	Wyoming
3	North Dakota
4	South Dakota
5	Alaska
6	Montana
7	New Hampshire
8	Delaware
8	Vermont
10	Maine

Now that we have the whole picture, let's compare it to just the 2000 presidential election:

State Rankings

Rank	Tennyson 2000 Report	This Report
1	Wyoming	Idaho
2	Idaho	Wyoming
3	North Dakota
4	Alaska	South Dakota
5	South Dakota	Alaska
6	Montana
7	New Hampshire
8

Delaware 9 Maine Vermont 10 Vermont Maine

Amazingly, they are very similar, almost eerily similar. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe, just maybe, the 2000 presidential election really does provide us with a very good look at the ideology of the candidate states. None of the candidate states move more than ONE position in the state ranking.

Whatever the conclusion, one thing is for sure: Time and time again, both Idaho and Wyoming stand out in the above rankings.

A Short Report on Alaska

by Doug Ruzicka

I have read many of the reports concerning the target states for the Free State Project and I am compelled to offer a short report on my home state of Alaska.

This report will not throw statistics around nor is it a "for or against" report. I am submitting it to dispel the somewhat rosy picture that the two Alaska reports paint. This report is a "reality check".

The reports previously submitted are to be commended in regards to statistics and facts. Mostly, they are accurate. Yet, neither report tells anyone "how it really is" to live in Alaska.

Let me begin by saying that I am a resident of Alaska having moved here from Nebraska in the fall of 1992. I am married with six children. At present, only the youngest three remain at home.

I live on the Kenai Peninsula near a little place on the map called Anchor Point. I live on the road system in a small cabin with my family. If you live in a city you are an urban Alaskan. If you live on the road system you are a rural Alaskan. If you live off of the road system you are a bush Alaskan.

I am a public speaker and travel "Outside" (anywhere outside of Alaska) twice a year on speaking tours. The Kenai Peninsula is sometimes regarded as the "Banana belt of Alaska" with winter temperatures that can get to 35 below zero and as high as the low 80's in the summer, but it is usually not that extreme. It is typically rainy in the late summer with large amounts (12-16 feet) of snow in the winter.

The southern coastal area is called the South Central part of Alaska and the climate is controlled by the Japanese current which carries much moisture and milder temperatures to my area.

North and west of the Alaska range is considered the Interior of Alaska. It is here that Alaska sees temperatures as low as 50-60 below zero (the record is -100) with summertime highs in the 90's. It is a drier climate with less snow and rain.

The northern most part of Alaska (north of the Brooks Range) is considered the "slope". It is here that the temperatures are the most extreme. It is not a highly populated area.

One factor that affects some people are the long winter nights. The lengthy darkness in the winter affects many people. The old timers call it cabin fever. There is a medical term for it, but I can't recall what it is at the moment. It is a depletion of the vitamin balance in your body that sunlight usually gives you. It doesn't bother me at all. It can be treated by installing full spectrum lighting in your home or going to a tanning salon. The long winter nights seem to be particularly hard on the women. Where I live the sun rises just at 10 a.m. and sets just after 3 p.m. on winter solstice. The days are even shorter the farther north that you go until you reach the Arctic Circle and beyond that the sun doesn't even rise. The opposite is true in the summer.

At present Alaska does not have any state income or state sales taxes. This may be changing in the not too distant future as Alaska is experiencing a runaway budget. However, when, not if, these taxes are imposed they will most likely be the lowest in the nation in the beginning. Many cities have a city sales tax and many of the boroughs have a borough sales tax. (We have boroughs, not counties). It is no longer true that mineral royalties pay for 85% of the budget. A great part of the state budget is now carried by the rapidly depleting Constitutional Budget Reserve, our state savings account.

Alaska is an "owner state", meaning that the people own the mineral rights collectively and rarely individually. Very few landowners own their mineral rights. Alaska does not control the destiny of its oil. It cannot be exported by law. It is for domestic use only. My understanding is that this is a federal thing and not subject to change.

Employment is a bleak proposition in Alaska. While professionals, construction trades and those businesses supporting them flourish to a great degree, a very large portion of the remainder of Alaskans struggle with seasonal work at low wages. Here on the Kenai Peninsula we have a 4% unemployment rate in the summer and a 14-17% unemployment rate in the winter. 58% of the kids at the local school are at or below the poverty rate. It is a little better up north. All industries, or what is left of them, are fully manned. Don't come here believing that you will get a job on an oil rig or on the slope. It won't happen unless you know someone. Fishing is a dying industry. Timber is history. This year's tourism numbers are down 30%. Far too many jobs are seasonal service jobs at minimum wage. The opening of ANWR will not create a boom economy for Alaska like the pipeline did in the 70's.

Our legislature is predominately Republican, with most of those being moderates. The Alaskan Independence Party would be sympathetic to the free state cause, but the agenda of all AIP members is a new statehood vote with many AIP members embracing secession and nothing else. I believe that the AIP, as well as the Libertarian Party, would expect FSP'ers to join their ranks and not the other way around. Many AIP'ers reject the Libertarian Party because it is a national party, while the AIP is only a state party. They are not as chummy as they would have you believe.

Contrary to what you may believe, there is no free land in Alaska. 97% of the state is publicly owned. Do not expect this to change, even with 20,000 new voters. The Natives hold a great portion of it and they eagerly prosecute trespassers. The Homestead programs are history. All state land is disposed of by lottery or over the counter sales, with prices based on current assessments and requires a survey and sometimes some type of development at the cost of several thousands of dollars before title is given. Bush land is incredibly expensive to access. Some good wilderness land is available this way, as well as some rural and urban parcels. But, it is not free. Right now, real estate in Anchorage is at an all time high. House prices in Anchorage are through the roof. If you are a seller, good for you. But, if you're a buyer, good luck. Bring lots of cash. Lots.

Agriculture is a tough proposition. However, many folks do grow awesome gardens due to the long summer days, but many things require early starts in the house as well as a green house. It can be done and done well, but it requires a lot of attention. The Matanuska Valley is the agricultural center of the state. Dairy farming is one of the leading agricultural industries. Hay production also ranks right up there. Current hay (timothy grass) prices are $300 per ton. Alfalfa is shipped in from Canada. Pricey.

Hunting regulations are tough and strictly enforced. Poachers are scum here and few Alaskans think twice about reporting them. If you poach, be prepared to pay thousands in fines and confiscated equipment. Getting to game is the most difficult and expensive thing that I have ever experienced. The terrain does not favor the hunter. Fishing is very regulated and competitive as well.

There is lots of water here. Half or more of the state is marsh. Much, but certainly not all of the subsurface water has a high sulfur and iron content. My well is 18 feet deep and I have great water. My neighbor down the road had to go 100 feet and buy a filter system to make it potable.

Homeschooling is a breeze here, but will be facing local and state monitoring and accountability challenges in the near future. The public school system is good at the elementary level. Above that it's like anywhere else. If you live in a bush community it will be a native community and they can be very prejudiced against whites.

Yes, there is a dividend program here. This program pays each state resident a percentage of the mineral revenues received annually. This year's dividend will be about $1,100 for each Alaskan man, woman, and child. It can take up to two years to qualify. The politicians are trying very hard to take it away to cover budget deficits. They will succeed someday in eliminating it or diminishing it. DO NOT MOVE HERE FOR THE DIVIDEND! You will starve before you are eligible to get it.

Prices can be comparable to Outside (except housing). Anchorage has every store known to man, including Costco and Wal-Mart. A gallon of milk is near $3 in Anchorage. It's more where I live, close to $4. Gas is $1.81 a gallon. Propane is $2 per gallon.

I know that I do not paint a good picture of Alaska. I do this on purpose. What I want to impress upon everyone who considers Alaska as their state of choice is that they need to understand that this is a tough place to live. Do not come here expecting to live like Jeremiah Johnson. I tried. it didn't work. You will be separated from your family in the lower 48. You may not see them for a long time. Some of you will be resented by your family for leaving and taking the grand kids away. When you get here you most likely will not have family here or know any one. It will be tough to find affordable housing. It will be tough to find work. 20,000 people looking for work in Alaska at once or even over a long period may cause problems. People will distance themselves from you for a while; first to see what your game is, secondly because very few people here stay and folks are reluctant to make friends when they might leave next year. The town of Homer has a turnover rate of people moving in and out of 65% annually. If Alaska is chosen as the state to go to expect half to return back to their original homes.

The military presence is here to stay. They contribute greatly to our economy and are very welcome by nearly all Alaskans.

On the bright side, Alaska is like no other place on earth. It is the living embodiment of wild. You can live how you want with little criticism from anyone. The man with a $250,000 log home may live next door to a family that lives in a school bus, with no sense of arrogance. If you pull your own weight, you're OK. If you're on welfare, you're out. You can walk across the yard and encounter a mama moose and her calves. You may go fishing at the river and encounter a grizzly. With one inexpensive hunting license you can hunt moose, black bear, blacktail deer, caribou, sheep, and goats in some areas, without special permits. If you love to fish, there's no place like it. If you love to hike it cannot be beat. If you think earthquakes and volcanoes are cool (I do), then this is the place.

The people of Alaska are fiercely independent. Much of the "code of the north" still remains, but is being diluted by newcomers. Our famous Senator Ted Stevens does an awesome job of bringing Federal money to the state, but the state has become dependent upon it and sadly, all this federal money has made Alaska dependent upon the Feds. A lot of Alaskans want this Federal money. (I don't.)

One thing that I found very unique to Alaska was the ease of buying property. A very large percentage of property, including turnkey homes are owner financed, making it much easier to buy your own place here than any other place. I would have never been able to buy my own place Outside, but here I own 10 acres with a cabin and a house slowly under construction.

Some of the discussion on the forum talks of secession. There seems to be quite a bit of support for it by some of the Alaska advocates. Let me say this: forget it. While there are some here in Alaska that are secessionists, they are few in number. It is not as prevalent of a sentiment here as some would lead you to believe. Everyone I know and talk to is an American first and Alaskan second.

A voting force of 20,000 people will make a huge difference and thwart the moderate and liberal influences at work here in the state. Spread out in strategic areas, these voters will turn the tide of power away from those influences and establish a very welcome relief for many Alaskans. Forget the arguments of which party to join. There will be enough to start a new party, the Free State Party. (Just a thought.) Every election will reflect this influence. Personally, I pray for it to happen.

But, let me remind you all, IT WILL BE DIFFICULT.

If Alaska becomes the state of choice, let me help you move here. I can tell you what to bring and what to leave behind. I can tell you how to get your guns here. DON'T BELIEVE ANY STORIES ABOUT GUNS! I cross the international border eight times a year. I know. I can tell you what you need when you get here. I could write a book on how to move to Alaska.

If you all decide to come, count me as your first friend and neighbor. But, really think about it first. It's not like moving across the county.

Alaska Report

by Joseph Littlejohn

Author's Disclaimer: I am personally biased on the issue of FSP state selection. I currently own property in Alaska, and love the state for a variety of reasons. This paper is written, for the most part, from an advocacy point of view, although a few counter-arguments are grudgingly offered.

Many would agree that the major criteria affecting state selection are ?livability? and the potential for affecting the local political process. This paper will concentrate on what I believe are the major attributes that make Alaska a good choice for the Free State.

In brief these criteria are:

1) general environmental livability, including climate and weather

2)? infrastructure, industry, employment

3) the existing political/cultural environment, including indigenous parties sympathetic to FSP goals, voter trends and current law

4) overall geopolitical factors and potential future relations with the Federal government

________________________________________
Livability - climate and weather
_________________________________________

Winter temperatures in Alaska are often assumed to be extreme, and in certain areas they can be. However, during winter, it can actually be warmer in the Anchorage area and the surrounding Matanuska-Susitna borough than in certain parts of the lower 48. This is due to the warming effect of the ocean which provides a moderating influence on the local climate. ________________________________________________________________________

The normal daily mean temperature in January, for selected cities, in degrees Fahrenheit

International Falls, MN ??????????? 2.7 F
Mt. Washington, NH ??????????????? 5.2 F
Grand Forks, ND ???????????????????? 5.3 F
Nome, AK ????????????????? 5.8 F
Duluth, MN ???????????????????????????? 8.4 F
Caribou, ME ??????????????????????????? 9.5 F
Glasgow, MT ?????????????????????????? 10.8 F
Sioux Falls, SD ??????????????????????? 14.0 F
Alamosa, CO ?????????????????????????? 14.7 F
Green Bay, WI ????????????????????????? 15.6 F
Anchorage, AK ?????????? 15.8 F
Burlington, VT ???????????? 18.0 F
Concord, NH ?????????????????????????? 20.1 F
Portland, ME ??????????????????????????? 21.7 F
Chicago, IL ????????????????????????????? 22.0 F
Casper, WY ????????????????????????????? 22.3 F
Pocatello, ID ?????????????????????????? 24.4 F
Elko, NV ????????????????????????????????? 25.6 F
Juneau, AK ???????????????? 25.7 F
Kodiak, AK ??????????????? 29.7 F
Wilmington, DE ?????????????????????? 31.5 F
___________________________

As can be seen in the following list, on average, Anchorage receives less snow than many areas in the lower 48 states.
____________________________________________________________________

Average Snowfall in January for selected cities, in inches;

Alamosa, CO ?????????????? 4.3 in
Glasgow, MT ?????????????? 6.7 in
Wilmington, DE ?????????? 6.8 in
Sioux Falls, SD ??????????? 7.0 in
Pocatello, ID ?????????????? 9.7 in
Casper, WY ????????????????? 10.0 in
Elko, NV ????????????????????? 10.1 in
Anchorage, AK ?? 10.5 in
Nome, AK ????????? 10.6 in
Chicago, IL ????????????????? 11.1 in
Green Bay, WI ????????????? 11.9 in
International Falls, MN 12.9 in
Kodiak, AK ??????? 15.3 in
Duluth, MN ???????????????? 17.8 in
Concord, NH ?????????????? 17.9 in
Burlington, VT 19.3 in
Portland, ME ??????????????? 19.4 in
Caribou, ME ??????????????? 24.4 in
Juneau, AK ???????? 25.7 in
Mt. Washington, NH ??? 40.8 in
---------------------------

The summers are fairly moderate, with Anchorage having a mean temperature of 58.8 F in July. This is comparable to the San Francisco area, which is moderated by ocean winds during the summer, and has a mean temperature of 61.3 F in July. Likewise, Eureka CA, also on the coast, attains a mean of 58.1 F.

The shorter length of days in the far north during winter will certainly be a concern for some people, especially those that suffer to some extent from Seasonal Affective Disorder. However, only areas above the arctic circle (125 miles above Fairbanks) will ever experience 24 hours of darkness or light. In Anchorage, at winter solstice, daylight lasts about 5 1/2 hours. However, at summer solstice, the day is about 19 1/2 hours long. (recall that during the equinox, the length of day and night are equal, and the same at all locations on the earth ).

____________________________________________________________________________________
Sunshine - average percentage possible for local area, January
(accounts for cloud cover and precipitation)

Seattle, WA ????????????????? 28%
Grand Rapids, MI ???????? 28%
Juneau, AK ???????? 32%
Mt. Washington, NH ??? 32%
Anchorage, AK ?? 34%
Nome, AK ????????? 40%
Boise, ID ???????????????????? 40%
Burlington, VT 41%
Duluth, MN ???????????????? 48%
Green Bay, WI ????????????? 49%
Fargo, ND ?????????????????? 50%
Concord, NH ?????????????? 52%
Portland, ME ??????????????? 56%
Sheridan, WY ?????????????? 57%
------------------------

A side note about growing seasons;
Strange as it may sound, Alaska has a farming and agriculture industry. Output includes various vegetable crops, grain and livestock. The greatly increased hours of daylight during summer tend to offset the effect of shorter seasons. Chief crops farmed are barley, oats, hay, potatoes, lettuce. Livestock raised are cattle, sheep, reindeer, bison, and poultry.

(It's reported that the intense growing season produced a particularly fast growing, potent variety of marijuana which contributed to its later re-criminalization - this "cash crop" has been "discovered" growing as far north as Fairbanks.)
________________________________________________________________________
Average growing season for selected cities and regions, in days

Portland, ME ??????????????? 173 d
Juneau, AK ???????? 172 d
Kodiak, AK ??????? 160 d
southern, NH ????????????? 150 d
Bismarck, ND ????????????? 140 d
Anchorage, AK ?? 125 d
Valdez, AK ???????? 116 d
northern, VT ?????????????? 100 d
------------------------

__________________________________________________________________
LIVABILITY - infrastructure, industry, employment
__________________________________________________________________

Salaries and wages:

Interestingly, Alaska ranked number 1 in 1990 at an average wage of $29,946 per year, but dropped to 11 in 1999, although the actual wage increased to $34,000.
In 2000, the per capita income in Anchorage was $27, 852.

__________________________________________________________________________________
Average annual pay for selected states - year 1999

state ?????????????????????????? dollars ??????????? ranking
Delaware ???????????????????? 35,102 ??????????? 8
Alaska ????????????????????? 34,034 ????? 11
New Hampshire ????????? 32,139 ??????????? 17
Nevada ??????????????????????? 31,213 ??????????? 19
Vermont ????????????????????? 27,595 ??????????? 34
Wyoming ???????????????????? 25,639 ??????????? 44
Idaho ????????????????????????? 26,042 ??????????? 41
Montana ????????????????????? 23,253 ??????????? 49
------------------------------------

General Anchorage Area Demographics

Income and Poverty:
Median Household Income:?????????????? $ 55,546
Per Capita Income: ????????????????????????????? $ 25,287
Population in Poverty: ?????????????????????? 18,682
Percent in Poverty: ???????????????????????????? 7.4%

Employment:
Workforce ( Age 16 and over): ???????? 192,782
Civilian Employed: ????????????????????????????? 125,737
Military Employed:????????????????????????????? 8,503
Unemployed: ?????????????????????????????????????? 9,110
Not in Labor Force: ???????????????????????????? 49,432
Percent Unemployed: ???????????????????????? 6.8%
Percent Adults Not Working: ?????????? 30.4%

Civilian Employment:
Private Wage & Salary Workers: 89,023
Government Workers
(Military not included):?????????????????????? 27,646
Self-Employed workers
(in own not incorp business): ?????????? 8,819
Unpaid Family workers: ???? 249

Employment by Occupation:
Management, Professional & Related: 46,271
Service: ???????????????????????????????? 18,970
Sales & Office: ???????????????????????????????????? 35,834
Farming, Fishing & Forestry: ??????????? 432
Construction, Extraction

& Maintenance: ????????????????? 12,136

Product., Transport.

& Material Moving: ??????????????????????????? 12,094

Employment by Industry:

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing

& Hunting, Mining: ??????????????????????????? 3,886

Construction: ?????????????????????????????????????? 7,995
Manufacturing: ?????????????????????????????????? 2,542
Wholesale Trade: ??????????????????????????????? 4,428
Retail Trade: ???????????????????????????????????????? 15,327
Transport., Warehouse & Util.: ??????? 11,809
Information: ???????????????????????????????????????? 4,079
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate,
Rental & Leasing: ?????????????????????????????? 7,654
Professional, Scientific,

Management,
Administrative & Waste Mgmt: 12,845
Education, Health &

Social Services: ?????????????????????????????????? 24,532
Arts, Entertainment, Recreation,
Accommodation & Food Services: 11,342
Other Services

(Except Public Admin):??????????????????????? 7,156
Public Administration: ?????????????????????? 12,142
-------------------------------------------------------

The following is a listing of salaries for the Anchorage area, where approximately 41% of the state population lives. This is probably a more useful set of numbers for people wanting to move into the state from the lower 48, since it represents a wide range of jobs and industries probably similar to work available out of state. I've edited a much more exhaustive list of job categories down to the most common and recognizable types. Even so it's lengthy. I hope the reader may find a listing similar to their present job in order to make the comparison more meaningful.

For the complete list see;
http://www.labor.state.ak.us/research/wage/anchoes.htm.

_______________________________________________________________________
Average wages, per hour, for selected professions - Anchorage area - year 2000

??????????????????????????????????????????????? Mean ??????? Median ????? Mid Range Entry ??????? Experienced

Managers
Computer & Information Sys Managers 33.74 ?????? 32.35 ????????????????????? 25.06 - 40.18 ???????? 21.69 ????? 39.76
Construction Managers ???????????????????????? 38.83 ????? 37.39 ????????????????????? 29.83 - 46.58 ???????? 25.83 ????? 45.33
Education Admin, Postsecondary ?????????? 16.74 ????? 15.37 ????????????????????? 12.63 - 19.07 ???????? 12.03 ????? 19.10
Financial Managers ??????????????????????????????????????????????? 34.57 ????? 30.53 ????????????????????? 23.26 - 41.81 ???????? 20.49 ????? 41.61
Industrial Production Managers ??????????? 33.01 ????? 26.97 ????????????????????? 21.67 - 41.30 ???????? 19.65 ????? 39.69
Medical & Health Services Managers ???? 31.80 ????? 30.61 ????????????????????? 24.84 - 35.58 ???????? 21.59 ????? 36.91
Transport, Storage & Dist Managers ???? 26.96 ????? 25.29 ????????????????????? 20.12 - 33.04 ???????? 18.79 ????? 31.05

Business and Financial Operations
Accountants & Auditors ???????????????????????? 23.56 ????? 22.73 ????????????????????? 18.06 - 26.36 ???????? 15.85 ????? 27.41
Credit Analysts ????????????????????????????????????? 26.03 ????? 19.42 ????????????????????? 12.28 - 46.33 ???????? 10.56 ????? 33.76
Financial Analysts ????????????????????????????????? 26.59 ????? 26.18 ????????????????????? 23.10 - 30.26 ???????? 21.65 ????? 29.05
Insurance Underwriters ???????????????????????? 22.34 ????? 20.93 ????????????????????? 18.34 - 28.18 ???????? 16.57 ????? 25.22
Loan Officers ???????????????????????????????????????? 23.80 ????? 18.11 ????????????????????? 13.18 - 32.87 ???????? 11.11 ????? 30.14
Tax Examiners ??????????????????????????????????????? 27.94 ????? 28.54 ????????????????????? 20.81 - 34.11 ???????? 19.28 ????? 32.27
Training & Development Specialists ?????? 20.67 ????? 20.04 ????????????????????? 17.20 - 24.98 ???????? 14.68 ????? 23.66

Computer
Computer Programmers ???????????????????????? 27.00 ????? 26.21 ????????????????????? 22.32 - 31.92 ???????? 20.03 ????? 30.49
Software Engineers, Applications ????????? 28.78 ????? 28.50 ????????????????????? 23.61 - 33.58 ???????? 22.17 ????? 32.09
Software Engineers, Systems ????????????????? 31.10 ????? 32.51 ????????????????????? 22.74 - 40.16 ???????? 20.89 ????? 36.21
Database Administrators ?????????????????????? 26.79 ????? 26.24 ????????????????????? 18.86 - 34.19 ???????? 16.45 ????? 31.96
Network & Computer Systems Admin ???? 23.43 ????? 23.11 ????????????????????? 18.86 - 28.12 ???????? 16.99 ????? 26.65
Network Systems Analysts ???????????????????? 25.67 ????? 26.39 ????????????????????? 18.20 - 31.86 ???????? 16.70 ????? 30.16
Statisticians ?????????????????????????????????????????? 29.60 ????? 28.47 ????????????????????? 24.85 - 32.67 ???????? 23.38 ????? 32.71

Architectual
Architects, Except Landscape & Naval ?? 30.93 ????? 30.96 ????????????????????? 25.50 - 36.81 ???????? 22.98 ????? 34.91
Civil Engineers ?????????????????????????????????????? 31.46 ????? 30.58?????????????????????? 22.95 - 38.28 ??????? 20.92 ????? 36.73
Drafters, Engineer & Mapping Tech ?????? 20.46 ????? 19.52 ????????????????????? 15.53 - 24.32 ???????? 13.63 ????? 23.88
Electrical Engineers ??????????????????????????????? 32.52 ????? 33.27 ????????????????????? 27.04 - 39.45 ???????? 23.68
Mechanical Engineers ???????????????????????????? 31.51 ????? 31.79 ????????????????????? 25.00 - 38.95 ???????? 22.64 ????? 35.94
Petroleum Engineers ?????????????????????????????? 51.23 ????? 54.07 ????????????????????? 42.32 - 62.55 ???????? 36.98 ????? 58.36
Surveying & Mapping Technicians ???????? 22.33 ????? 23.18 ????????????????????? 17.98 - 28.42 ???????? 14.34 ????? 26.33

Life, Physical, and Social Science
Agricultural & Food Scientists ?????????????? 28.12 ????? 29.11 ????????????????????? 22.17 - 33.96 ???????? 19.45 ????? 32.46
Biological Technicians ??????????????????????????? 14.06 ????? 13.65 ????????????????????? 11.83 - 15.93 ???????? 11.16 ????? 15.52
Chemical Technicians ???????????????????????????? 16.18 ????? 14.52 ????????????????????? 10.47 - 21.90 ???????? 9.89 ??????? 19.33
Economists ???????????????????????????????????????????? 31.51 ????? 31.88 ????????????????????? 19.66 - 41.73 ???????? 17.83 ????? 38.35
Foresters ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 28.72 ????? 28.42 ????????????????????? 23.38 - 35.25 ???????? 21.29 ????? 32.43
Geological & Petroleum Technicians ????? 20.72 ????? 20.60 ????????????????????? 17.12 - 24.41 ???????? 14.76 ????? 23.70
Market Research Analysts ???????????????????? 21.92 ????? 21.44 ????????????????????? 18.25 - 25.10 ???????? 16.47 ????? 24.65

Community and Social Services Legal
Clergy ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? 15.08 ????? 15.07 ????????????????????? 7.04 - 21.20 ?????????? 6.70 ??????? 19.28
Counselors, Social & Religious ?????????????? 13.70 ????? 12.83 ????????????????????? 10.87 - 15.47 ???????? 10.17 ????? 15.47
Mental Health Counselors ????????????????????? 17.83 ????? 17.07 ????????????????????? 15.26 - 20.22 ???????? 15.11 ????? 19.19
Arbitrators, Mediators ????????????????????????? 20.69 ????? 22.26 ????????????????????? 16.33 - 25.24 ???????? 14.35 ????? 23.87
Lawyers ????????????????????????????????????????????????? 43.03 ????? 41.56 ????????????????????? 29.38 - 58.76 ???????? 24.73 ????? 52.18
Paralegals & Legal Assistants ??????????????????????????????? 24.16 ????? 24.47 ????????????????????? 21.27 - 28.00 ???????? 19.08 ????? 26.70
Title Examiners, Abst & Searchers ???????? 18.22 ????? 18.69 ????????????????????? 14.89 - 21.04 ???????? 13.75 ????? 20.45

Education, Training, and Library
Education, Training & Lib Workers, ?????? 19.09 ????? 18.25 ????????????????????? 12.80 - 25.17 ???????? 12.50 ????? 22.39
Librarians ????????????????????????????????????????????? 21.81 ????? 23.20 ????????????????????? 17.72 - 27.74 ???????? 12.67 ????? 26.37
Postsecondary Teachers, All Other ?????? 49,020 ??? 49,310 ??????????????????? 40,690 - 55,980 ???? 35,160 ??? 55,950
Preschool Teachers, Except Spec Ed ?????? 10.16 ????? 10.10 ????????????????????? 9.10 - 11.25 ?????????? 8.54 ??????? 10.97
Teacher Assistants ???????????????????????????????? 25,600 ??? 26,330 ??????????????????? 18,330 - 30,940 ???? 17,360 ??? 29,710
Teachers, Primary, Sec & Adult ????????????? 39,560 ??? 41,050 ??????????????????? 20,870 - 53,980 ???? 18,060 ??? 50,310
Vocational Education Teachers, ???????????? 22.32?????? 24.17 ???????????????????? 18.06 - 27.12 ???????? 14.02 ????? 26.47

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media
Audio & Video Equipment Technicians ?? 11.93 ????? 11.71 ????????????????????? 10.25 - 13.05 ???????? 9.63 ??????? 13.08
Film & Video Editors ?????????????????????????????? 15.56 ????? 13.60 ????????????????????? 12.19 - 16.22 ???????? 12.10 ????? 17.29
Graphic Designers ????????????????????????????????? 17.97 ????? 16.96 ????????????????????? 12.53 - 22.55 ???????? 11.50 ????? 21.20
Photographers ?????????????????????????????????????? 12.92 ????? 12.76 ????????????????????? 11.10 - 15.28 ???????? 9.75 ??????? 14.50
Producers & Directors ?????????????????????????? 36,190 ??? 33,860 ??????????????????? 30,220 - 40,840 ???? 28,270 ??? 40,160
Public Relations Specialists ??????????????????? 24.44 ????? 21.69 ????????????????????? 16.95 - 27.66 ???????? 15.01 ????? 29.16
Technical Writers ?????????????????????????????????? 25.00 ????? 25.08 ????????????????????? 22.63 - 27.97 ???????? 21.69
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
Dental Hygienists ?????????????????????????????????? 38.17 ????? 39.15 ????????????????????? 36.79 - 41.52 ???????? 37.64 ????? 38.44
Licensed Pract & Lic Voc Nurse ????????????? 16.30 ????? 15.93 ????????????????????? 14.53 - 17.59 ???????? 14.33 ????? 17.29
Medical & Clinical Laboratory Techn ???? 16.17 ????? 16.05 ????????????????????? 14.01 - 18.62 ???????? 13.46 ????? 17.53
Optometrists ????????????????????????????????????????? 46.99 ????? 48.92 ????????????????????? 44.83 - 52.70 ???????? 42.25 ????? 49.37
Pharmacists ?????????????????????????????????????????? 34.15 ????? 34.38 ????????????????????? 31.12 - 38.55 ???????? 30.40 ????? 36.03
Physicians & Surgeons, All Other ????????? 68.34 ????? >70.00 ?????????????????? >70.00 - >70.00 ??? 65.03 ????? 70.00
Veterinarians ???????????????????????????????????????? 30.82 ????? 28.34 ????????????????????? 18.66 - 37.30 ???????? 16.69 ????? 37.89

Protective Service
Protective Service Workers, Other ??????? 22.45 ????? 12.11?????????????????????? 9.80 - 44.63 ?????????? 9.40 ??????? 28.98

Food Preparation and Serving Related
Bartenders ???????????????????????????????????????????? 9.18 ??????? 9.24 ??????????????????????? 7.98 - 10.33 ?????????? 7.48 ??????? 10.03
Chefs & Head Cooks ?????????????? ??????????????? 14.95 ????? 13.38 ????????????????????? 11.60 - 16.83 ???????? 10.31 ????? 17.27
Cooks, Fast Food ??????????????????????????????????? 9.90 ??????? 9.82 ??????????????????????? 8.39 - 11.47 7.??????? 83??????????? 10.94
Counter Attend, Cafeteria/Food ??????????? 8.95 ??????? 8.14 ??????????????????????? 6.49 - 10.43 ?????????? 6.20 ??????? 10.33
Dishwashers??????????????????????????????????????????? 8.97 ?????? 8.89 ??????????????????????? 7.62 - 10.32 ?????????? 7.20 ??????? 9.86
Food Preparation & Serv Wkrs, ???????????? 17.67 ????? 21.84 ????????????????????? 9.17 - 24.51 ?????????? 8.00 ??????? 22.50
Waiters & Waitresses ???????????????????????????? 7.53 ??????? 6.58 ??????????????????????? 6.17 - 7.72????????????? 6.26 ?????? 8.16

Building and Grounds, Cleaning, and Maintenance
Janitors/Cleaners, Ex Maids ????????????????? 11.06 ????? 10.19 ????????????????????? 8.62 - 13.34 ?????????? 8.01 ??????? 12.58
Landscaping Workers ??????????????????????????? 11.54 ????? 10.51 ????????????????????? 8.55 - 13.23 ?????????? 7.88 ??????? 13.37
Maids & Housekeeping Cleaners ??????????? 10.05 ????? 9.83 ??????????????????????? 8.77 - 11.01 ?????????? 7.96 ??????? 11.09

Personal Care and Service
Amusement & Recreation Attendants ???? 11.32 ????? 9.92 ??????????????????????? 8.38 - 12.83 ?????????? 7.78 ??????? 13.08
Baggage Porters & Bellhops ?????????????????? 10.16?????? 7.46 ?????????????????????? 6.42 - 10.96??????????? 6.33 ?????? 12.07
Flight Attendants ?????????????????????????????????? 32,970 ??? 30,640 ??????????????????? 21,930 - 37,790 ???? 19,170 ??? 39,880
Hairdressers, Hairstylists & Cosmet ????? 14.39 ????? 15.01 ????????????????????? 10.36 - 17.13 ???????? 8.93 ??????? 17.12
Recreation Workers ?????????????????????????????? 9.09 ??????? 8.48 ??????????????????????? 7.25 - 10.32 ?????????? 7.00 ??????? 10.13
Tour Guides & Escorts ??????????????????????????? 8.85 ??????? 8.61 ??????????????????????? 6.52 - 10.57 ?????????? 6.41 ??????? 10.07
Ushers, Lobby Attend & Ticket Takers ?? 6.92 ??????? 6.44 ??????????????????????? 6.11 - 6.79????????????? 6.28 ?????? 7.23

Sales and Related
Advertising Sales Agents ?????????????????????? 21.44 ????? 16.94 ????????????????????? 14.16 - 26.80 ???????? 12.10 ????? 26.11
Cashiers????????????????????????????????????????????????? 8.53 ?????? 8.14 ??????????????????????? 7.16 - 9.61 ???????????? 6.99 ??????? 9.31
Insurance Sales Agents ????????????????????????? 18.02 ????? 17.98 ????????????????????? 13.08 - 20.07 ???????? 12.34 ????? 20.86
Real Estate Sales Agents ???????????????????????? 23.35 ????? 23.35 ????????????????????? 18.79 - 30.31 ???????? 13.68 ????? 28.18
Retail Salespersons ??????????????????????????????? 12.18 ????? 10.60 ????????????????????? 8.34 - 13.38 ?????????? 7.72 ??????? 14.40
Telemarketers ??????????????????????????????????????? 8.52 ??????? 8.28???????????????????????? 6.95 - 9.66 ???????????? 6.69 ??????? 9.43
Travel Agents ???????????????????????????????????????? 11.77 ????? 11.34 ????????????????????? 9.73 - 13.36 ?????????? 9.19 ??????? 13.06

Office and Administrative Support
Bookkeeping, Account & Audit Clerks ?? 14.84 ????? 14.43 ????????????????????? 12.18 - 16.79 ???????? 11.21 ????? 16.66
Cargo & Freight Agents ???????????????????????? 11.18 ????? 10.41 ????????????????????? 9.11 - 12.71 ?????????? 8.61 ??????? 12.47
Couriers & Messengers ????????????????????????? 11.26 ????? 10.23 ????????????????????? 9.25 - 11.31 ?????????? 9.00 ??????? 12.39
Data Entry Keyers ????????????????????????????????? 10.83 ????? 10.12 ????????????????????? 8.89 - 12.06 ?????????? 8.31 ??????? 12.09
File Clerks ????????????????????????????????????????????? 11.56 ????? 11.47 ????????????????????? 9.19 - 13.70 ?????????? 8.26 ??????? 13.22
Hotel, Motel & Resort Desk Clerks ???????? 8.14 ??????? 7.81 ??????????????????????? 6.77 - 9.47 ???????????? 6.55 ??????? 8.94
Insurance Claims & Process Clerks ??????? 17.85 ????? 15.76 ????????????????????? 14.16 - 18.77 ???????? 13.55 ????? 20.00

Legal Secretaries ??????????????????????????????????? 19.01 ????? 19.28 ????????????????????? 15.92 - 22.11 ???????? 14.15 ????? 21.44
Medical Secretaries ??????????????????????????????????????????????? 13.27 ????? 13.20 ????????????????????? 11.86 - 14.99 ???????? 11.66 ????? 14.07
Office Clerks, General ??????????????????????????? 12.94 ????? 12.42 ????????????????????? 10.50 - 15.04 ???????? 9.36 ??????? 14.73
Secretaries, Except Legal, Med & Ex ?????? 14.60 ????? 13.82 ????????????????????? 11.65 - 17.51 ???????? 10.38 ????? 16.71
Stock Clerks & Order Fillers ????????????????? 12.58 ????? 11.55 ????????????????????? 9.18 - 15.43 ?????????? 8.57 ??????? 14.58
Tellers ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? 10.26 ????? 10.08 ????????????????????? 9.24 - 11.20 ?????????? 9.30 ??????? 10.74
Word Processors & Typists ??????????????????? 13.66 ????? 13.48 ????????????????????? 11.76 - 15.73 ???????? 11.14 ????? 14.92

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry
Farming, Fishing & Forestry Workers ??? 15.30 ????? 15.28 ????????????????????? 14.14 - 16.41 ???????? 13.36 ????? 16.27

Construction and Extraction
Brickmasons & Blockmasons ????????????????? 20.39 ????? 19.42 ????????????????????? 14.02 - 26.08 ???????? 11.87 ????? 24.65
Carpenters ???????????????????????????????????????????? 21.08 ????? 22.75 ????????????????????? 16.13 - 25.74 ???????? 13.92 ????? 24.67
Construction Laborers ?????????????????????????? 18.89 ????? 18.66 ????????????????????? 13.57 - 23.70 ???????? 11.76 ????? 22.45
Electricians ???????????????????????????????????????????? 28.07 ????? 29.68 ????????????????????? 24.10 - 33.21 ???????? 20.43 ????? 31.89
Plumbers, Pipefitters & Steamfitters ????? 26.32 ????? 26.97 ????????????????????? 22.27 - 31.99 ???????? 18.70 ????? 0.13
Roofers ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? 21.64 ????? 22.34 ????????????????????? 17.45 - 27.23 ???????? 14.42 ????? 25.25
Structural Iron & Steel Workers ???????????? 19.33 ????? 20.46 ????????????????????? 14.36 - 24.64 ???????? 11.53 ????? 23.23

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair
Aircraft Mechanics & Serv Tech ???????????? 19.66 ????? 19.53 ????????????????????? 15.83 - 23.90 ???????? 14.32 ????? 22.33
Automotive Body & Related Repairers ?? 21.80 ????? 19.97 ????????????????????? 15.84 - 25.48 ???????? 13.50 ????? 25.95
Automotive Service Tech & Mech ?????????? 17.75 ????? 17.80 ????????????????????? 13.43 - 23.57 ???????? 10.58 ????? 21.34
Computer/Auto Teller/Office Mach Rep 19.60 ????? 19.77 ????????????????????? 14.70 - 24.79 ???????? 13.33 ????? 22.73
Heating/AC/Refrig Mech & Installers ??? 20.99 ????? 22.81 ????????????????????? 18.43 - 25.51 ???????? 14.34 ????? 24.32
Maintenance & Repair Workers, Gen ???? 18.00 ????? 17.52 ????????????????????? 12.35 - 22.72 ???????? 10.71 ????? 21.64
Telecomm Equip Install/Repair, ????????????? 28.76 ????? 29.93 ????????????????????? 25.74 - 33.00 ???????? 22.52 ????? 31.88

Production
Bakers ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? 10.63 ????? 10.40 ????????????????????? 8.67 - 12.47 ?????????? 7.96 ??????? 11.97
Cabinetmakers & Bench Carpenters ????? 14.89 ????? 14.07 ????????????????????? 11.62 - 18.47 ???????? 10.90 ????? 16.89
Helpers: Production Workers ???????????????? 17.82 ????? 16.49 ????????????????????? 12.15 - 24.22 ???????? 10.83 ????? 21.32
Machinists ????????????????????????????????????????????? 23.08 ????? 23.73 ????????????????????? 19.59 - 26.82 ???????? 17.31 ????? 25.97
Plant & System Operators, All Other ???? 20.04 ????? 22.33 ????????????????????? 16.61 - 25.10 ???????? 12.81 ????? 23.66
Production Workers, All Other ????????????? 10.66 ????? 9.49 ??????????????????????? 7.60 - 11.08??????????? 6.97 ?????? 12.51
Welders, Cutters, Solder & Brazers ?????? 21.19 ????? 20.13 ????????????????????? 16.07 - 26.18 ???????? 14.06 ????? 24.76

Transportation and Material Moving
Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors ??? 15.19 ????? 13.92 ????????????????????? 11.24 - 18.13 ???????? 10.58 ????? 17.49
Excavating & Loading Machine Opers ?? 12.97 ????? 12.75?????????????????????? 10.37 - 15.36 ??????? 9.47 ??????? 14.72
Laborers & Freight Movers ??????????????????? 13.51 ????? 11.64?????????????????????? 9.34 - 14.63 ????????? 8.44 ??????? 16.05
Packers & Packagers, Hand ?????????????????? 8.31 ??????? 6.84 ??????????????????????? 6.33 - 9.15 ???????????? 6.35 ??????? 9.29
Service Station Attendants ???????????????????? 10.75 ????? 8.93 ??????????????????????? 7.36 - 14.71 ?????????? 6.96 ??????? 12.64
Taxi Drivers & Chauffeurs ???????????????????? 9.99 ??????? 9.06 ??????????????????????? 7.58 - 11.87 ?????????? 7.26 ??????? 11.36
Truck Drivers, Tractor-Trailer ???????????? 18.78 ????? 17.54 ????????????????????? 14.66 - 24.03 ???????? 12.90 ????? 21.73
------------

Mean: is the estimated total wages for an occupation divided by its weighted survey employment. It is sometimes referred to as the "weighted average."

Median: Another "average" representing the value of the "middle" observation when the numbers are arranged from the smallest to largest. At that point, half of the employees in the occupation earn more and half earn less.

Middle Range: The middle 50% of wages. One-quarter of the workers in an occupation earn less than the low end of the range and one-quarter earn more than the high end of the range.

Mean Entry Wage: The mean wage of the first one-third or 33rd percentile of employees in the occupation (two-thirds earn more).

Mean Experienced Wage: The mean wage for the upper two-thirds or 67 percentile of employees in the occupation (one-third earn less).
-------------------

______________________________________________________________________________
Year 2000 data for top 100 employers in AK- this group represents 29% of all private sector wage and salary employees in Alaska--- 21% are non-profits;

company ?????????????????????????????? no. of employees
Safeway/Carrs ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? 3270
Providence Alaska medical center ?? 3098
Fred Meyer ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 2146
Walmart/Sam's Club ?????????????????????????????????????????? 1911
Alaska Airlines ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? 1694
VECO Operations ??????????????????????????????????????????????? 1392
Alaska Petroleum Contractors ????????????????????????? 1314
Banner health system ???????????????????????????????????????? 1138
National bank of Alaska/Wells Fargo ???????????? 1118
Federal Express ?????????????????????????????????? 1113
NANA Marriot ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? 1093
BP Exploration ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? 1018
Alyeska pipeline service co. ???????????????????????????? 898
Alaska Communications Systems ??? 821
Alaska Regional Hospital ????????????????? 814
Phillips 66 ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 805
Alaska USA Federal Credit Union ?? 800
GCI Communications ????????????????????????????????????????? 771
Laidlaw Transit ??????????????????????????????????? 745
First national bank of Anchorage ??? 745
Kmart ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 730
Sears Roebuck ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? 712
UniSea ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 687
Peak Oilfield Service Co. ??????????????????? 681

Southcentral Foundation ?????????????????? 675
Alaska Commercial Co. ????????????????????????????????????? 663
ERA Aviation ????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????? 658
Spenard Builders Supply ?????????????????? 658
Icicle seafoods ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? 631
Costco ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 612

Tanana Chiefs Conference ??????????????????????????????? 594
Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. ????? 593
North Pacific Processors ?????????????????? 582
Southeast AK Regional health Corp. ????????????? 578
Peter Pan Seafoods ???????????????????????????????????????????? 566
Anchorage Daily News?????????????????????????????????????? 520
Aramark Leisure Services ????????????????? 520
Doyon/Universal Ogden ?????????????????? 519
Nabors Alaska Drilling Co. ??????????????????????????????? 514
Williams Express ???????????????????????????????? 507
Westmark Hotels ??????????????????????????????????????????????? 506
Alyeska resort ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? 481
Valley hospital ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? 481
Unocal ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 477
Houston/NANA ???????????????????????????????? 468
Pizza Hut ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 467
Burger King ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 465
Norquest Seafoods ???????????????????????????????????????????? 464
Cominco Alaska ????????????????????????????????? 459
Hope Community Services ??????????????????????????????? 448
Maniilaq Association ???????????????????????????????????????? 446
AT&T Alascom Inc. ?????????????????????????????????????????? 426
Norton Sound health Corp. ?????????????????????????????? 412
UPS ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 398
Alaska Hotel properties ???????????????????? 398
Wards Cove packing Co. ?????????????????? 389
PenAir ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 387
The Alaska Club ???????????????????????????????? 386
Northwest airlines ?????????????????????????????????????????????? 382
AK Native Tribal health Consortium ?????????????? 381
Denali foods (Taco Bell) ??????????????????? 381
Chugach Elec. Assoc. ??????????????????????????????????????? 379
Cook inlet processing ??????????????????????????????????????? 378
Facility management of Alaska ???????????????????????? 374
Salvation Army - Alaska ??????????????????? 371
Tesoro Northstore Co. ?????????????????????????????????????? 367
Hilton Anchorage ?????????????????????????????????????????????? 360
Chugach North Techical Services ??? 354
Ketchikan General Hospital ?????????????????????????????? 348
Westward Seafood ???????????????????????????????????????????? 348
Hotel Captain Cook ??????????????????????????????????????????? 342
Assets, Inc. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 341
Ocean Beauty Seafooods ????????????????? 338
Bristol Bay Area health Corp. ?????????????????????????? 335
Royal Highway Tours ??????????????????????????????????????? 327
Sea-land Freight Service ??????????????????? 314
J C Penny Co. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 313
Silver Bay Lodging ???????????????????????????????????????????? 311
Anchorage Cold Storage ?????????????????? 305
Rural Alaska Community Action prog. ?????????? 299
Matanuska Telephone Association ??????????????? 296
Fairbanks Gold Mining Company ??? 291
Schlumberger Technologies ???????????????????????????? 289
Carlile Enterprises ?????????????????????????????????????????????? 285
Alaska Pacific University ????????????????? 281
Dynair Services ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? 279
Sky Chefs ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 277
Fairbanks Native Association ????????????????????????? 273
ARC of Anchorage ???????????????????????????????????????????? 272
ABM Company of the West ???????????????????????????? 272
Northern Air Cargo ???????????????????????????????????????????? 267
Greens Creek Mining Company ??????????????????????? 264
Halliburton Energy Services ???????????????????????????? 263
McDonalds ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 258
Nordstrom ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 256
CIRI Alaska Tourism Corporation ??? 255
United Airlines ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? 251
Udelhoven Oilfield Systems ????????????????????????????? 250
------------------------------------------------------------

Public Sector Employment
However, the following figures could be somewhat discouraging for those with desire for "small government"... If you count the public sector, several of the various branches of government fall within the Top 10 largest employers in Alaska. Significantly, the military and federal government are number one and two on the list! Most are centered in Anchorage, although the State government is located in Juneau and the University of Alaska is in Fairbanks.
___________________________________________________________________________________
year 2000 Top Ten employers including public sector

rank ? employer?????????????????????????????????????????? employees
1 ?????? Uniformed Military ?????????????????????????? 17,614
2 ?????? Federal government ??????????????????????? 17,139
3 ?????? State of Alaska ???????????????????????????????? 16,066
4 ?????? University of Alaska ????????????????????????? 6,112
5 ?????? Anchorage School District ??????????????? 5,954
8 ?????? Municipality of Anchorage ?????????????? 2,868
10 ???? Fairbanks North Star Borough

????????? School district?????????????????????????????????? 1,918
--------------------------------------------------

Unemployment:
According to the latest figures, the Alaska unemployment rate is comparatively high, but it's worth noting that 6% of a population of 627,000 is about 38,000 people, a much smaller actual number than states with higher populations but slightly lower unemployment rates. For instance, a state like Nevada with a population of 1,998,000 and with a slightly lower unemployment rate of 4.4% yields 88,000 people.
_____________________________________________________
Unemployment rate, comparison of selected states - year 1999

state ?????????????????????????? percent ?????????? ranking
Alaska ????????????????????? 6.4 ?????????? 2
Montana ????????????????????? 5.2 ????????????????? 6
Idaho ????????????????????????? 5.2 ????????????????? 6
Wyoming ???????????????????? 4.9 ????????????????? 12
Nevada ??????????????????????? 4.4 ????????????????? 21
Delaware ???????????????????? 3.5 ????????????????? 32
Vermont ????????????????????? 3.0 ????????????????? 40
New Hampshire ????????? 2.7 ????????????????? 49
----------------------------------------

Cost of Living
No getting around the fact that some living expenses are higher in Alaska. This can probably be largely attributed partly to the shipping costs of merchandise imported from out of state and perhaps the climate. People living in Anchorage spent about 41% more than the national average.
(The average household was comprised of 1.5 wage earners, and 2.6 persons, reporting a pre-tax income of $54,506.)
_________________________________________________________________________
Anchorage area consumer spending -
Percent distribution of total average expenditures in Anchorage, 1999-2000

Food ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? 13.1%
Personal Insurance & pensions ?????????? 8.4%
Cash contributions ???????????????????????????? 3.5%
Entertainment ???????????????????????????????????? 6.4%
Healthcare ????????????????????????????????????????? 4.8%
Transportation ??????????????????????????????????? 18.5%
Apparel & % services ?????????????????????????? 4.7%
Housing ????????????????????????????????????????????? 33%
Other ????????????????????????????????????????????????? 7.6%

_________________________________________________________
Consumer Price Index - All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)
U.S. City Average, All Items vs Anchorage, Alaska, All Items

year ???? U.S. average ??? Anchorage average
2001 177.1 ?????????????? 155.2

______________________________________________________
some examples - costs of selected goods, 2001;

??????????????????????? National average ??????? Anchorage

gallon of gasoline ?????? $1.52 ????????????????????????? $1.65

half gallon of milk ????? $1.68 ????????????????????????? $2.29

dozen large eggs ??????? $0.98 ????????????????????????? $1.53

quarter pounder ????????? $2.12 ????????????????????????? $2.87
with cheese

day rate semi-private $800. ????????????????????????? $493.
hospital room
_______________________________________________________

living expenses for a family of 4, selected western cities

National average $32,000 a year

Juneau? , AK????????????????? $38,076

Salt Lake City, UT???????? $35,262

Fairbanks, AK?????????????? $34,398

Anchorage?????????????????? $33,518

Boise, ID????????????????????? $32,142

Butte, MT???????????????????? $30,322

----------------------------------------

Housing:

Housing profile - Anchorage municipality - year 2000
Total household population 253,269 - with 100,368 housing units
52% were single units, 42 % multi-unit, and 6% mobile homes
(13% were built since 1990)
61% were owner occupied and 39% rental units

(oddly enough they keep figures on stuff like this, 0.7% lacked plumbing...I suppose that means you won't have to hunker down behind a bush on the tundra like you thought)

Median monthly housing costs for mortgaged owners was $1,447
non-mortgaged owners $406
renters $720

23% of owners had mortgages, 4% without
43% of renters spent 30% of their income on housing

Year 2001, median price for homes in Anchorage , $143,000.

National Association of Home Builders said in the first quarter of 2001, Anchorage emerged as the "most affordable" housing market west of Oklahoma City -- bettering all 46 other cities in 10 western states.

I highly recommend a short article on cost of living in Anchorage by George Bryson of the Anchorage Daily news, published Nov. 4, 2001, "City's Pricey Reputation Proves a Myth - Few taxes, affordable housing and the PFD make Anchorage a good deal "
In this article he basically makes the case that Anchorage is actually one of the most affordable cities to live if you factor in the lack of a state tax and the yearly "Permanent Fund" payments.

http://www.alaskapcs.com/ANCHORAGE%20COST%20OF%20LIVING.htm

The Permanent Fund;

Probably few people outside Alaska may have ever heard of the "Permanent Fund."

This is an annual dividend paid to each citizen of Alaska that comes from royalties on state natural resources (mostly oil), and a State managed investment fund. The amount fluctuates on a yearly basis, but for the year 2001, the payment was $1,850. per person.

A bit of history;
After becoming a state in 1959, the state constitution declared that all the natural resources of Alaska belong to the state.

In 1969 the Prudhoe Bay oil lease sale generated $900 million from oil companies for the right to drill oil on 164 tracts of state-owned land. (by comparison, the 1968 state budget was $112 million) The $900 million was spent on water and sewer systems, schools, airports, health and misc. social services.

In 1976 a constitutional amendment, specified that 25% of all mineral lease rentals, royalties, federal mineral revenue-sharing payments, etc. received would be placed in a "permanent fund," to be used for long term investment. The principal of the Fund is to be invested in perpetuity.

In 1980 the State Legislature decided to create a savings trust for the future. The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation manages the assets of the Fund. The Legislature also created the "Permanent Fund Dividend Program" to pass on a portion of the investment income of the Fund to Alaskan citizens directly as a dividend payment. To be eligible you must be at least a one-year resident. Supposedly, the dividend amounts to more money in the state economy than the wages paid by basic industry, seafood, construction, tourism, timber, mining and agriculture combined. The dividend provides more than 10 percent of the income of most Alaskans. The fund is currently worth $26 billion and is mandated by law to be invested in a way that minimizes risk and expressly forbids "social' or "political" investing (which is encouraging).

The Left praises the fund as the ideal way to distribute a "fair and equal share of the wealth" from publicly owned resources to the citizenry. This might normally make a free market/private property oriented libertarian somewhat nervous. However, in my opinion, short of selling off the property, this is probably the fairest way to distribute a "commonly held resource"...especially that not previously owned by anyone (remember we're talking mostly frozen tundra here). This still leaves the question of who is granted the authority to decide what's a good investment, and this issue has been and is still debated. On a positive note, the fact that part of the money is more or less directly distributed to each citizen, leaving the decision up to them what to do with their share, is a step in the right direction. This somewhat decreases concentration of control of the resource by an entrenched government elite. The danger of course, is the precedent it sets. This system keeps alive the belief that government ownership of anything is a normal and beneficial circumstance. Perhaps more disturbing, public school officials apparently think it's necessary to indoctrinate young school children about the fund, stressing the "fairness" of the system.

Taxes:

Alaska currently has no state income or sales taxes.

50% of local governments have a sales tax up to 6 percent on retail sales, however, there is no retail sales tax in Anchorage and Fairbanks.
_______________________________________________________________________
Various Non-income Tax Sources in Alaska, 1999 figures -

732.6 million total

Property, Oil, gas
charitable gaming, Alcohol, tobacco
Insurance premiums electric, telephone motor fuel corporate income corporation petroleum severence, oil, gas
salmon and seafood marketing salmon enhancement fisheries business fishery resource, landing, mining, estate
---------------------------------------------------

Economic Data
I've included this information to emphasize the existing industries, infrastructure and business in Alaska. I believe this is a good indicator of a state's economic self sufficiency, especially if secession ever becomes a serious option. One huge factor in any evaluation of Alaska is its massive size and wealth of natural resources. The following list illustrates the type of services, retail and support industries that have come into existence over the last 40 years.
_____________________________________________________
Gross State Product, 26.4 billion, figures for year 1999 -
breakdown by sector

Government ??????????????????????????????????????? 19%
Oil, gas ?????????????????????????????????????????????? 18%
Transport, communications, utilities 17%
Services ????????????????????? ??????????????????????? 13%
Other goods ??????????????????????????????????????? 13%
Financial, insurance, real estate ????????? 10%
Trade ????????????????????????????????????????????????? 10%

______________________________________________________________________________
Alaska's world wide exports, $ 2.4 billion total, year 2000
Top exports in 2001 in millions of dollars

Seafood ?????????? $1,198 m
Minerals ????????? $329 m
Oil ?????????????????? $297 m
Fertilizer ???????? $190 m
Wood ????????????? $155 m
Other ????????????? $257 m

_______________________________________
Alaska export markets by percentage

country ???? energy ????? minerals ?? seafood ??? wood ??????????????? fertilizer
Japan ?????????????? 68 ?????????????????? 15 ?????????????????? 55 ?????????????????? 58 ?????????????????? -
Korea ????????????? 10 ?????????????????? 21 ?????????????????? 20 ?????????????????? 20 ?????????????????? 46
Singapore ??????? 5 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? -
China ????????????? 5 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 4 ???????????????????? 4 ???????????????????? -
Mexico ??????????? 3 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 25
Canada ??????????? 3 ???????????????????? 15 ?????????????????? - ???????????????????? 15 ?????????????????? 3
other ?????????????? 6 ????????????? 19 ?????????????????? 3 ???????????????????? 1 ???????????????????? 7
Belgium ?????????? - ???????????????????? 22 ?????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? -
Netherlands ??? - ???????????????????? 8 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? -
Germany ???????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 7 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? -
Portugal ????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 2 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? -
Norway ?????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 2 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? -
Thailand ????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 1 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 9
France ???????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 1 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? -
UK ?????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 1 ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? -
Taiwan ??????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 2 ???????????????????? 7
Australia ???????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? - ???????????????????? 3
-------------------------------------------

________________________________________________________________________
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT - history, voter trends and groups sympathetic to FSP goals
________________________________________________________________________

A Short political history of Alaska -

27,000 BC humans cross Bering land bridge into new world
1741 Vitus Bering, Danish explorer working for Russia, first european to arrive in Alaska
1778 Capt. Cook sails into Cook Inlet, Anchorage, looking for north nest passage
1799 Alexander Barnov first Russian governor, in Archangel, near Sitka
1867 Alaska purchased from Russia by Secretary of State Seward, $7.2 mil
1867 -77 under jurisdiction of U.S. Army
1877-79 under jurisdiction of U.S. Treasury
1879-84 under jurisdiction of U.S. Navy
1884 designated as the District of Alaska with territorial governor
1897 The Alaskan gold rush
1906 Alaska given non-voting delegate in Washington
1912 Alaska becomes a territory
1935 "New Deal" relocates 200 familes to homestead and establish agriculture
1942 Japanese occupy Attu and Kiska islands during WW2
1957 oil discovered on Kenai penisula
1959 Alaska admitted as 49th state
1968 oil discovered at Pruhoe bay
1975 right to grow and smoke marijuana in privacy of home
1976 Permanent Fund created
1977 Alaska pipe line completed
1978 Dick Randolph of Alaska first elected Libertarian state legislator.
1984 Andre Marrou third Libertarian elected to the Alaska legislature.
1987 Libertarians nominate Ron Paul President, Andre Marrou Vice President.

1990 marijuana re-criminalized
1991 Governor Walter Hickel wins on Alaska Independence Party ticket
1998 medical marijuana legal

General Political assessment -
Significantly, Alaska has one of the lowest populations of the 50 states, if looked at in terms of population density it is the lowest, with something more than 600,000 people for 656,424 square miles (1.03 per square mile), with most of the population crowded into Anchorage and Fairbanks. The entire state has less people than the city of Baltimore.

______________________________________________________________________
Population ranking - year 2000

state ?????????????? total ??????????????? ranking

Wyoming ???????? 494 K ????????????? 50
Vermont ????????? 609 K ????????????? 49
Alaska ????????????? 627 K ?????????????? 48
Delaware ???????? 784 K ????????????? 45
Montana ????????? 902 K ????????????? 44
New Hamp.????? 1,236 K ?????????? 41
Idaho ????????????? 1,294 k ?????????? 39
Nevada ??????????? 1,998 K ?????????? 35

(various cities provided for comparison)
Washington DC 572 K
Baltimore ??????? 651 K
San Francisco ? 776 K
Chicago ????????? 2,896 K
Los Angeles ??? 3,695 K
New York City 8,008 K
----------------------------

Political breakdown;
Despite the fact that they elect a democrat governor once in a while, the state has a reputation for a conservative leaning, at least judging by election returns. The following figures give an indication of electoral trends;

2000 U.S. PRESIDENT / VICE PRESIDENT
Ballots Cast / Reg. Voters 287825 / 473648 60.77%
Total Votes 285560
--------------------------------------------
candidates party ???????????????????? votes ?????????????? percent

NADER/LaDUKE GRN ?????????????? 28747 ???????????? 10.07%
BUCHANAN/FOSTER REF ???????? 5192 ?????????????? 1.82%
BROWNE/OLIVIER LIB ????????????? 2636 ?????????????? 0.92%
Write-in Votes ??????????????????????? 1068??????????????? 0.37%
HAGELIN/GOLDHABER NAT ??? 919 ???????????????? 0.32%
PHILLIPS/FRAZIER CON ?????????? 596 ???????????????? 0.21%

BUSH/CHENEY REP ????????????????? 167398 ?????????? 58.62%
GORE/LIEBERMAN DEM ?????????? 79004 ???????????? 27.67%

--------------------------------------------------

However it's important to note that the single largest political classification in Alaska is "undeclared" at 161,000... the second largest group is Republicans at 113,000. It's hard to say exactly what this undeclared figure means. It could be a measure of 'frontier" independence, persons not wanting to be tied to any particular party, it might be that a large group of people are conflicted or inconsistent in their views, or it may simply be that a lot are willing to vote but won't bother join a party.

It is however, interesting to consolidate the smaller groups into broader categories.
Adding together;

Republican, Alaskan Independence and Libertarian voters yields 139,000 total.
Democrat, green and Republican Moderate yield 80,000 total.
Non partisan, Undeclared and "other' yield 231,000 total.

For all persons of known party affiliation, left to right (219K), Libertarians and AIP (26K) represent 12 %, significantly higher than the national average.

For this number of "undeclared voters" (231K), it might be safe to assume that at least 12% of the "undeclared" group is also of libertarian and/or AIP leanings, ...which would yield a total of 54,000 people for the whole state (450K)...? potentially, over twice the 20,000 FSP goal (and this number doesn't include sympathetic conservatives or other groups)
_____________________________________________________________
Break-down of voters by party;
TOTAL 450,141

Republican ??????????????? AK Independence ??????????????? Libertarian
113,380 ????????????????????? 18,554 ??????????????????????????????????? 7,234

Democrat ????????? Green ?????????????????????????????? Republican moderate
71,620 ??????????????????????? 4,764 ????????????????????????????????????? 2,872

Non partisan ???????????????????? Undeclared ??????????????????????? other
66,296 ??????????????????????? 161,035 ????????????????????????????????? 4,386
--------------------------------------------------
AK IND = Alaskan Independence Party
DEM = Alaskan Democratic Party
GREEN = Green Party of Alaska
LIBERT = Alaska Libertarian Party
REP= Republican Party of Alaska
REP MOD = Republican Moderate Party
OTHER = Other (belongs to group not recognized by the State of Alaska)
UNDECL = Undeclared (may belong to a party but voter doesnot wish to declare which one)
NON PAR = Non-Partisan (follows no party lines)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alaskan Libertarian party;
There 's a mixed record here. Alaska has had Libertarian state office holders, but at present, less than 2 percent of registered Alaskan voters are Libertarians (not much different than the national average). Significantly, in 1978 Dick Randolph of Alaska became the first elected Libertarian state legislator. In 1984 Andre Marrou became the third libertarian elected to the Alaska legislature, and in 1987 became Ron Paul's running mate.
Alaska has electoral classifications called "recognized political Party" and "limited political party." A "Limited" political party ceases to be recognized in the State of Alaska if its presidential candidate fails to receive at least 3% of the votes cast for President. "Recognized' status requires registered voters (or votes cast in a previous election) equal to at least 3% of the votes cast for Governor in the last election.

Currently one Libertarian holds public office in Alaska, 3 are running for office and one ran in 2000.

_______________________________________________________________________
History of "recognized" status - Alaska Libertarian Party

1976 - As a Limited Political Party, MacBride / Bergland (President / Vice President candidates) received 5.5% of votes cast for President, retaining Limited Political Party status.

1980 - As a Limited Political Party, Clark (presidential candidate) received 11.7% of votes cast for President, retaining Limited Political Party status.

1982 - Randolph / Thompson (Governor / Lt. Governor candidates) received 14.9% of votes cast for Governor, establishing Recognized Political Party status.

1984 - Bergland / Lewis (President / Vice President candidates) received 3.07% of the votes cast for President, retaining Limited Political Party status.

1986 - As a Recognized Political Party, O?Brannon / Barnes (Governor / Lt. Governor candidates) received 0.5% of votes cast for Governor, losing Recognized Political Party status.

1987 - Legal opinion established that even though they had lost their status as a Recognized Political Party, they kept their status as a Limited Political Party.

1988 - As a Limited Political Party, Paul / Marrou (President / Vice President candidates) received 2.7% of the votes cast for President, losing their Limited Political Party status.

10/9/92 - Limited Political Party petition certified

1992 - Marrou / Lord (President / Vice President candidates) received 0.5% of votes cast for President, losing Limited Political Party status.

12/19/95 - Limited Political Party petition certified

l996 - Browne / Jorgensen (President / Vice President candidates) received 0.9% of votes cas

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