Mark Begich Takes the Lead on AK-Sen

With two straight polls out of the Alaska Senate race showing Democrat Scott McAdams well within striking distance of Republican Joe Miller -- who according to the latest polling out today (.pdf) has an unfavorable rating of 50 percent, including 32 percent of Alaskans who view him very unfavorably -- the Democrats have a real opportunity to make a race out of a contest that wasn't expected to be one.

In order to do this, however, the Democrats will need to invest resources. According to The Hill, the top ranked Democratic official in the state, Senator Mark Begich, is calling on his party to do just that.

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) said Thursday he is pressuring national Democrats to take on Tea Party-backed Joe Miller (R) and invest in the state's Senate race.

Begich, who will soon be the state's senior senator, said he is working to drum up support and national party backing for Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams (D) who will face Miller in November.

"I'm putting the pressure on," Begich told The Hill. "We're working the DSCC and others right now because I think it's a good investment."

Begich apparently isn't just talking -- he's dispatched one of his top aides to the race:

Sen. Mark Begich's (D-Alaska) state director, Susanne Fleek-Green, has signed on to help Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams' (D) Senate bid this fall. "Like many Alaskans I am really energized [by] the campaign," Fleek-Green emailed the Fix. Begich deputy chief of staff Leslie Ridle is also involved in the McAdams effort, but on a volunteer basis for now.

Despite the prognostications of some national commentators, this is increasingly looking like a race the Democrats can make a serious play at. Although putting together a ground game in the state is difficult, to say the least -- the sheer size of the state presents one issue, as do the temperatures in the weeks leading into November balloting -- Alaska is not the most expensive state in which to run a campaign. Moreover, it has not been all that long since a Democrat has won statewide, with Begich sitting less than two years out from his successful Senate bid. So it's probably not a bad idea for the Democrats to throw a six-figure, maybe low seven-figure sum at the race to see if they might be able to sneak out an unexpected victory.

[UPDATE at 7:52 AM]: Matt Browner Hamlin, writing in the comments, says the size of the state is less of an issue than one might expect.

The ground game wouldn't have to cover the whole state - that's not really possible. It would have to cover where the voters are - Anchorage, Mat-Su, Kenai, Fairbanks and southeast. All of those but the towns of the southeast are on the road system and manageable from a field perspective.