It's a lot easier to get elected governor when your name is on the ballot.
But candidate Bill Walker said Saturday there's no room for him at the top of an Alaskan Independence Party ticket that would have set up a rematch at the ballot booth with Gov. Sean Parnell.
Walker, who lost to Parnell in the Aug. 24 Republican primary but is encouraged by post-election polling, has been eyeing ways to continue his campaign. One promising option: Team with a third party by taking the place of AIP candidate for governor, Don Wright.
That chance appeared to fall apart late this week as Wright -- contrary to previous news reports -- declined to step aside. Party leaders say they're sticking with him and on Friday selected the founder of a Michigan militia as his running mate.
"We certainly consider it unethical to put pressure on (Wright) to withdraw," said Bob Bird, a former AIP candidate for U.S. Senate who hosted a meeting of party officials Friday in Nikiski.
Walker said Saturday that he's also considering requests from supporters to mount a write-in campaign. He said he hasn't spoken to the Alaska Libertarian Party about a potential run on that party's ticket.
"I'd have to give that some thought, and they would as well," he said.
State Libertarian Party chairman Scott Kohlhaas said that Walker running on the party's ballot was "theoretically."
"We would consider it," he said.
The AIP offered a platform for Republican Wally Hickel's successful gubernatorial bid in 1990. The notion of Walker doing something similar was a potential game changer this November and could have inked a third major name on the ballot beside Parnell and Democrat Ethan Berkowitz.
Parnell won the Republican primary easily over Walker and Ralph Samuels. Berkowitz defeated Hollis French, though Walker received more votes than either of the Democrats.
Facing what she called "a whirlwind of pressure," Wright recently told AIP chairwoman Lynette Clark of Fox he was going to step out of the race, Clark said. She wouldn't say where the pressure was coming from.
"I asked him to sleep on it. And he said he would," Clark said.
Wright, 80, couldn't be reached for comment Saturday. A former president of the Alaska Federation of Natives in the early 1970s, he's run frequently and unsuccessfully for statewide office, including a 2006 gubernatorial bid in which he refused to answer candidate surveys or provide a statement for the state's official election brochure.
Walker said at the invitation of Wright's family he talked with him about running under the AIP flag.
Walker met with Bird as well. Bird said the party likes Walker's message, but that he personally had misgivings about swapping candidates.
"I don't think it would look good for our party to be seen as a rent-a-party," he said. Among his other concerns: Walker's name on the ballot could potentially aid Berkowitz, the Democrat.
'STANDING ON OUR TWO FEET'
Regardless of what was said behind the scenes, Wright never officially dropped out of the race. By Saturday morning he'd told party leaders he planned to stay on the ballot, said Clark, the chairwoman.
Even if Wright somehow dropped from the race, party officers have voted that Clark would be the one to replace him on the ballot.
"We are standing on our two feet," she said. "Letting Alaskans know that this party was brought into being, or birthed, so to speak, for people that want to put down the baggage of the two-party system."
The Alaskan Independence Party's goal is to call a vote asking Alaskans if they want to remain a state, revert to territory status, accept commonwealth status or become an independent nation.
Party officers on Friday selected Michigan Militia founder Norm Olson, who now lives on the Kenai Peninsula, as their candidate for lieutenant governor.
Olson, who says he's commander of a growing group called the Alaska Citizens Militia, favors independence over continued federal funding.
"Everybody's trying to find their place at the little, at the gravy train," Olson said in a phone interview Saturday.
"Doggone it," he said. "I don't want any of Washington's money. We need to allow Alaska to develop its own resources."
Walker said he's never met Olson and would need to know more about him, but that the pair don't seem like they'd have made a good match.
By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com