Notes from the trail: Before-and-after pics, video of candidate Forrest Wolfe lopping his locks for kids with cancer

Forrest Wolfe Chronicles: “For the second time in my life, I grew my hair for nearly three years so that I could donate it in honor of my mother, Sherri Wolfe. My hair was donated to one of my favorite charities, Wigs For Kids; an organization that makes wigs for children who’ve been fighting against cancer,” said Forrest Wolfe, who used the occasion of his shearing for his campaign kickoff event, surrounded by family and friends. Wolfe, who has worked as a legislative aide, is now running for House District 21 in East Anchorage. He is a youngish Republican, and is in a somewhat winnable district, where no incumbent is running. His mother, of Juneau, died of cancer in 2014.

Watch the video of Forrest donating his long hair for a good cause in her memory at this link.

“I’m so happy and blessed to have been able to make this donation during my campaign kick-off event, surrounded by family and friends. I look forward to giving my all to the voters of East Anchorage,” Wolfe said. More about Wolfe at his campaign page at this link.

Push and pull polls: There’s polling, and then there is polling that tries to convince you to not support a candidate. We’ve all seen it in our text messages or heard it over the phone.

Public Policy Polling, a Democrat operation from the East Coast, is running a “push poll” in which they make harshly critical statements about Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka in an attempt to move survey participants away from her. The poll sponsor is not revealed but the goal is apparent — move voters into the Lisa Murkowski camp. These types of polls can be very persuasive but are not actually polls.

According to Wikipedia, this pollster is “an American polling firm affiliated with the Democratic Party. Founded in 2001 by businessman Dean Debnam, the firm is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Debnam currently serves as president and CEO of PPP, while Tom Jensen serves as the firm’s director.

Endorsements: Mary Peltola received an endorsement from Sealaska for her congressional bid. Talk show host Michael Dukes endorsed Charlie Pierce for governor. Joey Crum endorsed Rep. Cathy Tilton for State House.

Be a poll worker, get paid: Do you want to help out with state elections? The Division of Elections needs poll workers of various kinds. You can get training on how elections work from the inside out, and get paid. The link to apply is here.

Events:

Interior Republican Friday luncheon in Fairbanks upcoming speakers:

July 15 – Nate DeMars, candidate for House District 34

July 22 – Nick Begich III, candidate for US Congress 

July 29 – Nancy Dahlstrom, candidate for lt. governor, running mate to Gov. Dunleavy 

August 5 – Ruben McNeill, candidate for House District 35

August 12 – Elijah Verhagan, candidate for Senate Seat O

They’re worried about Sarah being a no-show:

From the support Facebook page for Sarah Palin for Congress is voiced a concern that she is not showing up: “Hey Sarah, Someone on your team needs to fix some things down here on the Kenai Peninsula. Nick Begich was on KSRM Sound Off radio program and also on Bird’s Eye View yesterday. Sound Off host, Duane Bannock is trying to get an interview with you, or have you as a guest. This can be done by telephone. On the Bird’s Eye View, Bob Bird was saying you were a “no show “ on a telephone interview he had scheduled with you. They said you were also a “no show” at a parade in Willow. Nick Begich was capitalizing on this. Did your scheduler mess up? I fully support you but I know of one person who has changed their mind due to this “no show “ stuff. KSRM radio phone number is 907 283 5811. It won’t take long to schedule and I hope you can schedule with each of these programs.”