1996 United States Senate election in Alaska

Open primary

Candidates

Democratic

• Michael Beasley, perennial candidate
• Henry J. Blake Jr.
• Lawrence Freiberger, former congressional candidate
• Robert Alan Gigler
• Theresa Obermeyer, former Anchorage School Board member
• Joseph A. Sonneman, perennial candidate
• Frank Vondersaar, perennial candidate

Republican

• Ted Stevens, incumbent United States Senator since 1968
• David Cuddy, former Alaska State Representative
• Charles E. McKee

Green

• Jed Whittaker, commercial fisherman, Republican candidate in 1992

Results

General election

Campaign

The race drew national attention for Obermeyer's erratic behavior: she blamed Stevens for her husband's failure to pass the bar exam twenty-one times, and contended that Stevens had passed the bar by fraud. She "trailed" him to campaign events, frequently wearing a prisoner's outfit and once dragging a ball and chain behind her. In June and July 1996, she served a sentence of 30 days in prison for disorderly conduct because of her role in a disturbance at a federal courthouse, while on probation for a 1994 conviction of disorderly conduct for instigating another disturbance at the same courthouse. Obermeyer attracted public attention, and possibly sympathy, during the campaign when, after serving seven days of her sentence in Alaska state prison, she was moved in the middle of the night to a Portland, Oregon county jail, and after a week there, she was moved to a federal prison in Dublin, California; her husband and attorney each complained about the moves, and a Federal prison official acknowledged that they were unusual. During the televised debate before the general election, after discussing diseases of the brain, Stevens earnestly said to his opponent, "I think you need help, Mrs. Obermeyer," a response described fourteen years later in The Anchorage Daily News as one that "has become, it is safe to say, legendary."

The televised primary election debates on August 21, 1996, also drew national attention for the unusual cast of characters seeking to oppose Stevens, particularly the seven candidates on the Democratic side. A column on the national PoliticsNow website, headlined "Alaska Displays the Scary Side of Democracy," described the debate as "what would happen if the Addams Family appeared on Meet the Press," leading to nationwide sales by public TV station KAKM of a record number of copies of the debate video. Anchorage Daily News columnist Mike Doogan described the debate as "what would happen if the folks from Jabba the Hutt's headquarters dropped by the Mad Hatter's tea party."

Results

In the general election, Stevens was re-elected in an overwhelming landslide, and Whittaker finished ahead of Obermeyer.

References

References

1. Kirtley, Jane. "Gag Her with an Injunction | American Journalism Review". Ajr.org.
2. "Official State of Alaska - Primary : August 27, 1996". Elections.alaska.gov.
3. (November 7, 1996). "Aliens From Outer Space and Other Election Tales". The New York Times.
4. (July 4, 1996). "Obermeyer Went on a Fast Track: U.S. Marshal Denies Special handling". Anchorage Daily News.
5. (August 10, 2010). "Alaska 1996 US Senate campaign debate - Ted Stevens and Theresa Obermeyer (at 4:00)".
6. (August 12, 2010). "Video: 1996 debate, Stevens v. Obermeyer". Anchorage Daily News.
7. (September 7, 1996). "KAKM Debate Video Becoming Cult Classic". Anchorage Daily News.
8. (August 23, 1996). "Democratic U.S. Senate Field is Crowded with Strange Rangers". Anchorage Daily News.
9. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 5, 1996". Clerk.house.gov.