Alaska: Alaskans

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

Gov. Sean Parnell, who has made it clear he’ll be in next year's governor’s race, today filed the letter of intent that formally brings him in and lets him start raising campaign cash.

Other gubernatorial hopefuls who've filed the letters with the Alaska Public Offices Commission are Democrats Ethan Berkowitz, Hollis French, Bob Poe, Robert Rosenfeld (who has since dropped out of the race) and Republicans John Harris and Bill Walker.

Parnell, of course, is a Republican. Here’s the statement he sent out today about his formal entrance into the govern's race: “We have a lot more work to do as we position our economy for growth and our people for opportunity.

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

So far, Alaska's senators aren't saying whether they'll vote for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Obama's first nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is expected to give a speech tomorrow on the Senate floor, where she'll indicate how she'll vote, said her spokesman, Mike Brumas. Democratic Sen. Mark Begich probably won't announce his intentions until he votes, said spokeswoman Julie Hasquet. The full Senate vote is expected as soon as Thursday.

Both Murkowski and Begich have said they want to be sure of Sotomayor's stance on Second Amendment issues.

But even without the votes of the two Alaskans, there is little doubt Sotomayor will be confirmed as the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice -- Sotomayor already has the support of six Republicans.

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From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review part of former Alaska Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch’s pending criminal case.

The court will look at one specific area: whether prosecutors must prove Weyhrauch violated a state disclosure law to convict him on federal mail-fraud statutes.

Weyhrauch, awaiting trial on federal corruption charges, has asked the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision that directly applied the federal mail-fraud statute to his case. At issue is one count in Weyhrauch’s 2007 indictment. It charged him with violating the federal mail fraud statute by depriving Alaskans of his honest services when he served as a legislator in 2006.

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From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. –

Sen. Lisa Murkowski met with Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor Thursday, asking the president’s first high court pick point blank: what did you mean about the now-infamous "wise Latina" statement in your speeches?

"When she was talking about how she arrives at some of her decisions, I asked: how do you make the separation from your personal experiences, your life experiences? And I specifically brought up the phrase that has generated some level of controversy. And she talked about that at some length, about how who we are allows you to have certain antennae that listen.