This page is part of an undergraduate assignment at Davidson College.
Issue Representation:
Outsourcing and Jobs in the Alaska Senate Race
Knowles’s Position
Tony Knowles (D), the senatorial challenger, claims that the current federal tax policies encourage outsourcing and that the economic stimulus plan could be modified to create more domestic jobs (ADN.com Sept. 2004). In conjuction with those assertions, he outspokenly opposes outsourcing and criticizes Murkowski for taking contributions from multinational companies that outsource jobs (Knowles “Murkowski” 2004).
Murkowski’s Position
Lisa Murkowski (R), the incumbent senator, asserts that the government’s current economic stimulus plan that Knowles criticizes has created more than 1.5 million jobs in the past year and that this plan will continue to strengthen the economy (ADN.com Sept. 2004).
In response to Knowles’s accusations of accepting donations from companies that outsource, Murkowski stated, “I will continue to proudly work with companies like Home Depot, that provide significantly to the Anchorage economy” (Murkowski “Governor” 2004).
Constituent Representation
Tony Knowles’s stance on outsourcing appeals to blue-collar workers and some conservatives (MacDonald 2004). This appeal to conservatives is not surprising considering that he is a Democrat in a predominantly Republican state. His position is an attempt to take some conservative support from Murkwoski since she has previously been labeled as “not conservative enough” by other Republicans (MacDonald 2004). By promising to act as a delegate and to vote on the outsourcing issue as these groups would vote, Knowles is trying to win these constituents’ support.
Lisa Murkowski appeals to her constituency both as a trustee and as a delegate. She counters Knowles’s accusations of supporting outsourcing by asserting that she supports companies that help the Alaskan economy. Murkowski represents the corporate base as a delegate since she votes in accordance with its professed interests. Instead of criticizing outsourcing as Knowles does, Murkowski appeals to the blue-collar workers by emphasizing job creation. Contrary to her representation of corporations, she represents these workers as a trustee because she emphasizes the product of the policies that she supports rather than claiming to vote as they may want her to.
Analysis
Knowles does a good job of representing his constituents by appealing to two important voter bases for him in a manner that Murkowski cannot counter since she does not want to lose the corporate vote. As a result, he has received endorsements from influential groups such as the AFL-CIO (Knowles “AFL-CIO” 2004).
Murkowski also represents her constituents well by making effective appeals to both big business and blue-collar workers without alienating either group. She is able to do this by representing one group as a trustee and the other as a delegate.
© Davidson College, 2004, Davidson, NC 28035
Created by Keith Farrow (kefarrow@davidson.edu) for POL 318
Created: 10/12/2004. Last updated: 10/15/2004.