Huffington Magazine Issue 85 | Page 64

TOM WILLIAMS/CQ ROLL CALL ALASKA IS FLAGGING ate, Obamacare wouldn’t exist.” Begich responded to the attack with a chuckle. “There are sixty 60th votes!” he said. Outside money will also play a major role in the race. In November, Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group financed by the Koch brothers, ran an ad criticizing Begich for his Obamacare vote. The ad was panned for featuring a Maryland-based actress and, more conspicuously, for being set in a decidedly un-Alaskan Provençal-style kitchen. HUFFINGTON 01.26.14 “Did you see that Maryland actress?” Begich asked. “I know Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers will like to play onto one issue, but voters in Alaska like to look at the whole package.” Left-leaning advocates have also targeted Begich for his more moderate and conservative positions. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group co-chaired by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has already pilloried him for his vote against expanded background checks. Begich, who briefly belonged to the group when he was mayor of Anchorage, all but encourages such attacks from his left Begich speaks with reporters after a vote in the Senate that broke a filibuster and allowed debate on gun control legislation. Begich and Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., were the two Democrats to vote to continue the filibuster.