Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words, but for a lifetime John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

When oil and gas prices went up dramatically and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.

I used to wonder if the occasionally rough edges of politics were unique here under the Great North Star. But I ventured out a bit this past year, and I tell you that, as partisan quarrels go, ours really aren't so bad.

America's finest - our men and women in uniform, are a force for good throughout the world, and that is nothing to apologize for.

Each of us knows that we have an obligation to care for the old, the young and the sick. We stand strongest when we stand with the weakest among us.

What can we do to nurture and support a people capable of living in freedom?