Political donations tell you something about candidates

It costs far too much to run a political campaign in this country and, sadly, Alaska is no exception. Donors contributed more than twice as much money to candidates in the race for U.S. Senate in Alaska in 2020 than bidders were willing to pay just a few months later for the long-sought oil and gas leases on a million acres in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

That’s a commentary both on the failure of the ANWR oil-drilling dream to punch holes in the tundra and that political donors are willing to pour so much money down a campaign hole.

Campaign contributions in that race between incumben...