Alaska newspapers are saying the Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan has his race in the bag against Democrat incumbent Mark Begich. The race has been too close to call, and it’s coming down to the absentee ballots. James Brooks at Juneau Empire writes, “He’s [Sullivan] driving a 12-dog team six hours ahead of Mark Begich’s 10-dog team out of the White Mountain checkpoint on the trail to Nome. Don’t like sports analogies? In plain English: Unless something drastically changes when the Alaska Division of Elections starts counting absentee, questioned and early ballots on Tuesday, Dan Sullivan will be the next U.S. Senator from Alaska.” And the last frontier joins in the Republican wave on Capitol Hill. More…

Update: Sullivan has indeed won the race