Young's Gotten Old

Julian Sanchez | September 23, 2005

Having been dubbed the "biggest, oinkiest jerk in Congress," Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) is now apparently hated by conservatives and hated by liberals. Now, 17-term incumbents who bring home massive amounts of federal booty aren't typically considered "vulnerable"—since his first few wins, Young has snagged a series of huge landslides—but given that he seems to be unpopular with pretty much everybody, maybe to the point where he'll start embarassing his constitutents, is there at least a chance he'll have to start watching his back? He crushed his last opponent by some 50 percentage points, but there's also little incentive to run a credible challenger until there's blood in the water. I'm not exactly holding my breath here, but a guy can dream, can't he?