As in other famously tight elections – Bush vs. Gore, Dewey vs. Truman – it was mayhem and confusion when polls closed on Sunday, and the mighty city of Anchorage, Alaska, crushed Durango in the second round of Outside magazine’s Best Towns competition, a March Madness-style tournament pitting America’s 64 best towns against each other in online elections.
Though some Americans were shocked and appalled to learn Durango officially is not the best town in America, the news perhaps struck Durango residents hardest. In the wounded aftermath, some locals – falsely encouraged by the 1,000-vote lead Durango established early on during the five days of voting – even wondered whether Anchorage’s eleventh hour triumph over Durango was the work of an unscrupulous, rabidly pro-Alaska faction of hackers.
Yet Alaskans are proving themselves gallant in victory.
In today’s round-up of Alaska-related news, The Alaska Dispatch reports Anchorage has proceeded to Round 3 of Outside’s tournament, magnanimously conceding that Anchorage only “slipped past Durango” in Round 2 of the online popularity contest.
The Alaska Dispatch notes, with understandable pride, that “Anchorage was the only Alaska town to make the original 64.”
While The Alaska Dispatch is conducting itself with the grace befitting the bigger man, the publication notes that in smiting Durango’s hopes of winning the title of “best town in America,” Anchorage enjoyed an indisputable electoral advantage: literally being the bigger man.
The Alaska Dispatch writes, “So far Anchorage has bested Tucson, Arizona, and Durango – though with a substantial demographic advantage over the latter, the victory, by 51 percent of the vote, was hardly overwhelming, something The Durango Herald was quick to point out.”
Anchorage’s population is 300,000, while Durango’s population is 17,000.
Anchorage received 9,632 votes to Durango’s 9,321, besting Durango by just 311 of the 18,953 votes cast in total.
Though Goliath inarguably defeated David, the Durango vs. Anchorage match-up turned out to be the closest contest among all of the 32 second-round match-ups.
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
