Former Anchorage Representative Ethan Berkowitz says this country is having a Jeffersonian moment and is ready to embrace change. He is hoping to ride that wave of change directly to the U.S. Congress. Deanna Garrison sat down with the Democratic candidate during his visit to Ketchikan on Saturday and filed this report.

Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis sent Ethan several questions for her blog. The questions covered topics ranging from the war in Iraq to energy policy to veterans. Read Ethan’s answers here.

Democratic candidates for Congress stuck largely to energy issues — and, when the chance arose, blasted incumbent Republican Rep. Don Young — at a Sunday night debate in Fairbanks. Berkowitz said lower energy costs would leave people with more money to invest, spend and put their kids through school. “It doesn’t matter to me if it’s gas coming down from the North Slope or renewables or maybe some kind of technology that we’re just learning about today,” he said. “Let’s start doing it for ourselves.”

Today, the Alaska AFL-CIO - the largest federation of labor unions and trade councils in the state - announced its endorsement of Ethan Berkowitz in the upcoming August election. The Alaska AFL-CIO is made up of 20 different unions representing Alaskan workers in professions as diverse as firefighters, machinists, nurses and cement masons.

When Ethan Berkowitz talks about his policy ideas—those he’ll push if he’s successful in his run for Don Young’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives—he talks fast and excitedly, like an Energizer bunny in high gear. Which is appropriate, because energy policy is one of his overriding passions.

Ethan Berkowitz is the former minority leader of the state House from Anchorage. He’s running against Diane Benson in the Aug. 26 primary for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House. He talks about why he thinks he’s better for the job than Benson, as well as about issues including ANWR and the Iraq war.

Energy is the issue facing our state and our country. Every day, Alaskans are confronted with crippling prices at the gas pump and when we pay our electric and heating bills. It’s not just fuel and electricity, either: in the last year, higher transportation costs have led to skyrocketing prices at the grocery store. This winter, particularly in rural Alaska, I fear that too many Alaskans will be forced to choose between heating and eating. High energy prices are at the root of our stalled economy, and we cannot build America until we solve this problem.

The last eight years have seen reckless national security policies that have cost trillions of dollars, thousands of American lives, and eroded the world’s trust in this country’s intentions. Worst of all, it has been a foreign policy that has divided Americans. It has turned us against each other at a time when our economy is floundering, when we’re being squeezed at the pump, at grocery stores, and when our veterans are going without proper healthcare. It has divided us when we most need to unify.

Since we invaded Iraq in 2003, more than 4,000 American troops have lost their lives and almost 30,000 more have suffered serious injuries. An untold number of Iraqi citizens have been killed and more than four million are refugees or displaced in their own country. The cost to the treasury for all this is more than $3 trillion. A consensus, even among President Bush’s allies, is beginning to emerge that the war was badly conceived, poorly engineered, and a drain on our resources. Our soldiers continue to fight valiantly, but politicians have let them down.

The race for Alaska’s lone seat in Congress made a stop Friday in Mountain View. Four out of the five candidates talked about immigration, healthcare, education and the economy at the Hispanic Affairs Council of Alaska forum. Congressman Don Young, who told the council he had a scheduling conflict, was a no show.