Has Alaska received more attention than ever before in the past two years?

[Keystone Phil]

It's amazing if you think about it: a state with only about 700,000 people physically separated from the rest of the country has become one of the most talked about places over the past two years.

Obviously, political reasons explain why Alaska has been so frequently in the news...

Mike Gravel (2008 Presidential campaign)
Sarah Palin (2008 Presidential campaign, resignation as Governor and future in politics)
Don Young (2008 Congressional campaigns and scandal)
Ted Stevens (2008 Senate campaign and scandal)
Lisa Murkowski (Historic 2010 Senate write in campaign)
The Bridge to Nowhere
Series of Tubes*

*Actually from 2006 but still noteworthy.


...but some of those political stories have helped the state step into the national and even international spotlight in non-political ways. Palin's non-political show obviously highlights life there while the totally political stories (Murkowski's write in campaign, for example) have done the same.

I think this is clearly the most attention it has experienced since gaining statehood and it probably won't experience anything like this again for a long time (if ever).

[Keystone Phil]

Of course, but I think they'd like to rid themselves of the attention whores in chief

I knew this would turn into that but without demonizing them, can we at least accept the fact that they have made this state a major attention grabber (for better or worse)? You almost hear about Alaska as much as (or, at some times, even more so than) New York, California, Florida and Texas these days. It's pretty amazing. Again, not saying it is necessarily a positive but it's certainly noteworthy for such a small state that barely received attention before 2008 and that's not just thank to the Palin's.

[Keystone Phil]

Non politically, you have also had Ice Road Truckers, Tougher in Alaska and The Deadliest Catch. 

There you go. Those too.

[Keystone Phil]

Not in a good way. It's kind of seen as the laughingstock of the country now.

Not the question.