Trump campaign left out of Alaska voter guide

Alaskans won’t find any information about Donald Trump in their voter’s guide this year, after the GOP presidential nominee’s campaign failed to submit biographical data and a candidate statement.

{mosads}The voter guide, which hit mailboxes this weekend, includes candidate statements from Democrats Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, Green Party nominee Jill Stein and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka, the Constitution Party nominee and an independent candidate. But state elections officials say the Trump campaign and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson did not submit materials ahead of an Aug. 30 deadline.

Josie Bahnke, Alaska’s director of elections, sent letters to the Republican National Committee, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Tuckerman Babcock, the chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, seeking information from the Trump campaign. But none of those groups responded in time to be included in the pamphlet.

Trump’s campaign in Alaska is run by Jim Crawford, a conservative businessman. The campaign in May named former state Rep. Tom Anderson, who served a five-year prison sentence in 2007 after being convicted of money laundering and bribery charges during his time in office, as its state spokesman, the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

Recent surveys have shown a surprisingly close contest in the normally reliable Republican state. A poll released Sunday by the Lake Research Group, a Democratic firm that used to conduct surveys for former Sen. Mark Begich (D), showed Trump leading Clinton, 37 percent to 36 percent, The Midnight Sun reported, with Johnson taking 7 percent.

Another poll conducted for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), who is seeking reelection this year, showed Trump ahead by just 3 points, 37 percent to 34 percent, with Johnson at 10 percent. An Alaska Survey Research poll conducted for the Dispatch News in early October showed Trump leading 36 percent to 31 percent. Johnson took 18 percent in that survey.