Alaska's Dreamiest Politicians

Alaska has gotten a lot of attention in the last year or so for having the "Hottest Governor In America." Not that the competition is all that stiff. Most gubernatorial races, it turns out, are not beauty contests. (Side Note: Wouldn't it be more fun if they were? I'd like to have seen, say, Ann Richards twirling a flaming baton, or Jim McGreevey modeling evening wear. And imagine how fully Obama would rock the vote if the presidential election included a swimsuit competition.) Now, I don't want to knock Gov. Palin for her looks (I'll save that for her politics), but while she's certainly neatly groomed and thoughtfully attired, she's not significantly better-looking than any of a number of Alaska's attractive male politicians. She is, however, a pretty girl filling a role that's traditionally been taken by a man, so naturally there's going to be some attention paid to her more pulchritudinous qualities. (Remember the Hillary Clinton cleavage nonsense?)

But enough already. I'm tired of Sarah Palin's good looks overshadowing the attractiveness of Alaska's male politicians. Believe me when I tell you that, while Sarah Palin may be the Hottest Governor In America, she is by no means the Hottest Politician In Alaska. And in the interest of leveling the playing field, I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to some of the Last Frontier's other fair-of-face political players.

Raised in foster care in New York, State Rep. Les Gara grew up to be not only smart and compassionate, but super-duper nice and great-looking in a very urban-outdoorsy, South Addition, alternative energy kind of way. It's something about the Middle Eastern heritage combined with the salt-and-pepper goatee and proclivity for button-down shirts and polar fleece. He's not just handsome; he's Anchorage Handsome.

Then there's Andrew Halcro: Excellent taste. Impeccable grooming. And very nice hands. Halcro doesn't feel too bound by party lines (he was a third-party candidate for governor in 2006), but when it comes to clothes, he has more respect for a nice clean line than almost any man in the state, with the possible exception of my Uncle Steven.

If you want living proof that some things get better with age, look no further than two-term Anchorage mayor, two-term governor and former Senatorial candidate Tony Knowles. Tony was no slouch back in the '80s when he cleaned up downtown Anchorage, and he was certainly a fine-looking governor, but as I reported after last month's fundraising breakfast for Mark Begich, these days TK is looking very, very good. Like, who's-your-aesthetician? good.

Speaking of... Naturally I haven't forgotten about my beloved Mayor Mark Begich, currently the Most Adorable Mayor In America and soon to be the Cutest Little Junior Senator In Washington. No list of Alaska's political dreamboats would be complete without a shout-out to my favorite Democrat. (Photo by Mike R. Foster, www.MikeRFoster.com)

Lest you think I have an eye only for the new, hot and young(ish) movers and shakers, I have dug back into history to bring you some of the faces that rocked the AK in bygone days. (Side Note: Fortunately, the state as we know it hasn't been around too long, so it wasn't much of a dig.) This being Alaska, we couldn't have gotten through all these years without having at least one politician who could be described as "ruggedly handsome," and that honor goes, hands down, to Jay Hammond, the "Bush Rat Governor." A moderate Republican conservationist, Gov. Hammond could fly a plane, split wood and establish an investment fund to use oil royalties to finance the state budget. Plus, in later years, he just rocked the heck out of that beret.

Do Supreme Court justices count as politicians? Maybe not, but there's no doubt that the late Chief Justice Jay Rabinowitz had an impact on Alaska politics that continues to reverberate, and will continue to do so as long as people continue to like smoking pot. Chief Justice Rabinowitz wrote the opinion in Ravin v. State, the landmark and oft-referenced case that interpreted the unusual privacy clause in Alaska's state constitution to allow possession of small amounts of marijuana in the home for personal use. In addition to being a forward-thinker and a super-healthy runner-type, Chief Justice Rabinowitz was, as you can see, classically handsome in a very Ivy League kind of way.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must state here that Mike Stepovich, Jr., is my godfather, although that didn't influence my decision to include Territorial Gov. Mike Stepovich (Sr.) beyond the fact that I might not otherwise have known him to have been good-looking. Mike Sr. was governor of the Territory of Alaska when it was admitted to the union, and consequently most of the photos one sees of him are those jubilant "WE'RE IN!"-type shots which are totally nostalgic and pride-inducing, but not terribly flattering to any of the subjects. As you can see here, though, Gov. Stepovich was a looker.

Finally, you wouldn't think it now, particularly after the series of weird YouTube videos, but back in the day, then-Sen. Mike Gravel was kind of a stud.