Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Politics. Campaigns. Oil. Gas. The future. They are all coming together now in the run up to Tuesday’s decision by participants in the Alaska Democratic and Republican party presidential nominating events.

Little attention, however, has been paid lately to the candidates’ views on the controversial topic of oil development in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The positions of the top Democrats are clear: Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, no and no. Former Sen. John Edwards, who dropped out of the race Wednesday, no.

The Republicans are a mixed bunch on the issue, however: Sen. John McCain, no; Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, yes and yes. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who like Sen. Edwards dropped out Wednesday, reportedly was unclear in his view.

Things don’t look good right now for those who are continuing the long effort to develop that small slice of ANWR and bring online another source of much-needed domestic oil.

Congress is expected to remain under Democratic control, and the odds of an ANWR-development opponent occupying the White House have increased with Sen. McCain’s recent successes on the campaign trail.

It wasn’t too long ago that the prize of opening ANWR seemed at hand.

President Bush has been an ardent supporter of oil development on the coastal plain since taking office, and control of Congress for most of his tenure was in Republican hands.

The turn of events against ANWR development, however, is just one more example of how the perception of Alaska by the rest of the nation and its political leaders has changed markedly in the past two years. Alaska finds itself playing defense more than offense these days.

That fact should cause Alaska’s Democrats and Republicans to think hard about the state’s future on Tuesday when they decide which presidential candidate to support.