1. The citizens of Alaska voted to enact a law requiring notification of parents before girls under 18 years of age can obtain an abortion.

LifeNews.com reported that, using the right of initiative and referendum, nearly 50,000 people in the state signed the petition to get the pro-life proposal on the ballot.

The Anchorage Daily Newsstated that the opponents, Alaskans Against Government Mandates, funded heavily by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), spent more than $800,000 trying to defeat the referendum.

The sponsor of the proposal, Alaskans for Parental Rights, spent only about $150,000. Their largest contribution was from the Knights of Columbus.

The vote on the proposed law was held in conjunction with the August 24 primary elections. With all precincts counted, the Secretary of State's office reported the results:
FOR 74,786 (55.4%)
AGAINST 60,196 (44.6%)

Chris Charbonneau, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, said the measure will be a severe restriction on abortion. She attributed the outcome to a heavy turnout in the Republican Primary, especially for Joe Miller, a Tea Party candidate running for the Senate.

Interestingly, the Washington Post's Aaron Blake believes Miller, who was leading Senator Lisa Murkowski in late returns, may have benefited from the large turnout of Christian voters for the parental notification proposal.

The National Right to Life Committee says that this is the 30th state parental involvement statute.

1. Despite President Obama's repeated pledge that people can keep their health care plans if they like them, an independent analysis says Obamacare could force as many as 3.7 million Medicare recipients to switch prescription drug plans whether they like it or not.

The Associated Press reported that Avalere Health, a leading private research firm, whose president was a heath care budget analyst in the Clinton White House, found that Obamacare will eliminate many prescription drug plans, which would cause changes in premiums and copayments.

Bonnie Washington, a senior analyst with Avalere, said "Those…who have to change plans could experience some disruption and inconvenience."

Leslie Norwalk, a former Medicare administrator, agreed. "If you're in a plan that you like and you have to change it, it will be disruptive," she said.

But Jonathan Blum, the Obama Administration's deputy administrator for Medicare, dismissed Avalere's concerns. "Anybody who is producing that kind of analysis is simply guessing," he said.

Washington countered that the Avalere study was based on Medicare's own specifications and Blum was unable to produce any figures of his own.

1. Political observers have credited Tea Party activists and Sarah Palin for the victories of four, and possibly five, candidates in the August 24th Republican primaries.

The Hill noted that all of the candidates endorsed by Palin appeared to have won, including two congressional candidates, Paul Gosar in Arizona's 1st district and Allen West in Florida's 22nd district.

Also in Florida, Palin's candidate for attorney general, Pam Bondi, beat two opponents, including one backed by Newt Gingrich.

Palin also strongly supported her 2008 GOP running mate, Senator John McCain, who was being challenged from the right by former Congressman J. D. Hayworth.

AZ Central.com reported that, with 99.7% of the vote counted, the results were:
John McCain 281,418 (56.2%)
J. D. Hayworth 160,910 (32.1%)
Jim Deakin 58,726 (11.7%)

Richard Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, said McCain "owes his victory to the pressure he received from conservatives and Tea Partiers. To receive that support, he had to give up his maverick positions that have sometimes given aid and comfort to the liberals. I'm sure Senator McCain knows very well that he would not have won if he had continued his reputation as the Democrats' favorite Republican."

Viguerie explained that the strength of the Tea Party cause is being felt in various ways: sometimes by pressuring incumbents into retirement; other times by beating an establishment Republican in a convention or primary; or, in McCain's case, "by applying so much heat, they see the virtue of small government, constitutional conservatism."

In Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski was trailing Joe Miller, who was supported by both Palin and the Tea Party, by 1,668 votes.

The Anchorage Daily News stated that Miller credited his possible victory to Palin. "I'm absolutely certain that was pivotal," he said.

With all precincts counted, the Secretary of State's office reported the tabulations:

Joe Miller 47,027 (50.9%)
Lisa Murkowski 45,359 (49.1%)

However, over 16,000 absentee ballots were requested with 7,600 returned so far. Additional ballots will be accepted by mail if they are postmarked by the day of the election.

The counting of these ballots will not begin until August 31 and will not be completed until September 8.