Democratic candidate for U.S. House gets winning word from mother

KETCHIKAN (AP) -- Alaska's Democratic nominee for the U.S. House says he learned that he won last Tuesday's primary after phoning his mother.

Clifford Mark Greene, a paralegal who lives in this Southeast Alaska city, said he was listening to the radio but was hearing only the results of the legislative races.

Greene said his mother told him he'd won the Democratic side of the primary after checking the Alaska Division of Elections Web site.

The 46-year-old Greene defeated Dae Mills, a squash farmer from Fairbanks and Frank Vondersaar, a commercial fisherman from Homer, for the Democratic nomination.

But those opponents pale in comparison with his next challenge -- defeating Republican Don Young, who has served 14 terms as Alaska's only member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Young ran unopposed on the GOP side of the primary.

They'll face off in the Nov. 7 general election along with Alaskan Independence Party candidate Jim Dore, Libertarian candidate Len Karpinski and Green Party of Alaska nominee Anna Young.

Greene said he wasn't surprised at his primary victory, because, like him, the other candidates weren't spending much money on advertising.

''I think any of the candidates could have won,'' he said. ''It just happened to be me.''

Greene originally is from Detroit, but was stationed at Cordova and on the Kenai Peninsula in 1975 while serving with the U.S. Coast Guard. Greene said he also served in the Marines Corps from 1972 to 1974.

He has lived in Ketchikan only a few months.

This is not the first time Greene has run for public office. In 1976, Greene said he lost his bid for a legislative race in Michigan. In 1986, he made a failed run for state representative in Minnesota.

So why should Alaskans vote for Greene?

''We need more economically diverse representation in Congress,'' he told the Ketchikan Daily News. ''There are a lot of people who are so well off that run for Congress, and people who have average means are not as well represented.''