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Alaska Democratic senator-elect discusses the need for a long-term energy plan and shares his thoughts on drilling in his state. (3:46)
 

Full interview. (10:02)
 

Tavis: Mark Begich has served of mayor of Anchorage, Alaska since 2003, but he will be leaving that post come January 4, the U.S. Senate. In one of the closest and most closely watched contests this year, he defeated the Senate's longest-serving Republican, Ted Stevens. He joins us tonight from Anchorage. Senator-elect, nice to have you on the program, sir, and congratulations.

Senator-elect Mark Begich: Well, thank you very much. It was a long race but it got a little longer those last couple weeks while we were waiting for all the votes to come in. But it's a pleasure to be on your show this evening.

Tavis: I'm delighted to have you on. There are a number of things that make you uniquely different as a member now, soon to be, at least, of the U.S. Senate. In no particular order, number one, I mentioned that you knocked off the Senate's longest-serving Republican, but you are a bit of an anomaly in Alaska, given that you are a Democrat.

We all, of course, know Sarah Palin, a Republican; you have one House member a Republican. You have another Senator from Alaska, a Republican. So where the national level is concerned, you are the only Democrat. What do you make of that, and why is that the case?

Begich: Well, I think Alaska's changing. I was born and raised in the state. When I became mayor in 2003, Anchorage, which is about 43 percent of the state population, had almost 15 years of Republican mayors, and I could see Anchorage was changing, it was a different demographic, and Alaska was changing. And this is what you see occurring now in this election cycle.

I think Alaskans are more interested in, instead of the boom and bust cycle, what Alaska has gone through for many years   , is more interested in being more stable, long-term. My wife and I are raising a young son. We're just a different generation, and I think that's what you're slowly starting to see in Alaska, and as a Democrat who's fairly moderate, I think that's the important part of this equation.

Tavis: The other thing that makes you uniquely different - and god knows that while education is important, one does not have to have a college degree to be a huge success. I think of my late, great friend Peter Jennings, one of the best anchors we've ever seen, who did not have a college degree. So there's a long list of folk who don't have college degrees, but you will be now, as you well know, the only member of the U.S. Senate who does not have a college degree. Tell me about that, and why you chose to take your life in a different direction.

Begich: Well it's an interesting thing - my mother was 34 when my father passed. She had to raise six of us - four boys, two girls - and the reality was lives take different roads down as you move through life. And I'm fortunate to say that I was the one in the family, when I became 16, 17 years old, ended up running the business, the family business.

Made sure every one of my siblings had a chance to go on to higher education. My mother, who could retire in dignity based on the work that I did to make sure the business maintained itself. But interesting to note here in Alaska I ended up on the board of regents for the university - seven years as chair of the Post-Secondary Education Commission as well as the student loan chair for the state of Alaska.

So experience has come in a variety of ways. I think in a lot of ways, as a small businessperson, as someone who's served an executive position as mayor of Anchorage, and then also on the legislative body of the Anchorage assembly, the city council for nine and a half years, I bring something that the Senate is desperately needing - some common sense and some practical approaches to the solutions we need in this country.

Tavis: I accept that. Let me ask you about the race for the presidency, at least where Alaska was concerned, and of course we're talking now about the entry of Sarah Palin into the mix some months ago back in August. There are all kinds of jokes, as you well know - jokes and broadsides leveled against her, and by extension, the state of Alaska.

Was there something in that conversation during that campaign that troubled you about the way your state, the place you were born, was being perceived in that conversation?

Begich: Well, I think in a lot of ways Alaska is a very unique state, and I think as the campaign started to go forward, people saw Alaska at first a very unique state, very different. But then the politics got mixed into it on a national level, and I think that, in some ways, didn't do us the best of favors. But on the end, it did bring a lot of exposure to Alaska.

And part of what I hope to be able to do, as I did when I was mayor of Anchorage, is bring a new look of how people look at Anchorage - in this case, now Alaska. I think we are very unique, we have great opportunities, but I do see the national campaigns at some point got a little ugly back and forth. "Saturday Night Live" had its best ratings ever.

But I think Alaska has a lot to offer, when you think about it. We have a great energy resource state here that brings a lot of new ideas to the table when it comes to energy independence, or the issue you brought up just a little bit ago about education - how we deliver education throughout our state with distance learning and some unique opportunities, and how we deliver healthcare, which is very unique, in rural areas for Alaska.

So we have to kind of retell the story of Alaska. That's what I hope to do as the next U.S. Senator from Alaska, bringing a different perspective of what a great state we have, how we participate in the rest of the United States, but also how we're a global player in a variety of areas.

Tavis: There was a lot of conversation, to your point, as you well know, in this campaign about our country's energy independence, or the lack thereof. And if we are to believe what Mr. Obama has said, and I have no reason not to believe him, then energy is going to be one of the issues, the environment, one of the issues that he's going to tackle.

And if I have my facts correct here, while this may not be your slogan - drill, baby, drill - which I, quite frankly, got tired of hearing - but while that's not your slogan, you and the governor, that is to say Governor Palin, don't disagree on the drilling issue. Yes, no?

Begich: That's correct. And for example, on ANWR, I support drilling in ANWR, but I also support a long-term energy plan. Every time we get into an energy crisis in this country we talk about a long-term plan and what happens? We usually just do something to take care of the next one or two years.

I think, again, Alaska, because of our uniqueness, how we've handled energy resource development with oil and gas, but we also have a lot of issues around alternative energy. For example, in Anchorage, we're reviewing geothermal energy, we have solar energy up in the north, we have wind energy that we're developing.

We're also doing the largest conservation light improvement project in the country here in Anchorage, saving millions of dollars for our taxpayers. So I think in a lot of ways, President Obama's absolutely correct - energy is a critical piece. With over $600 billion, $700 billion exported out of this country to buy foreign oil, we have to reverse that trend.

But we can do it in a multifaceted way - not only oil and gas, but also renewable energy, conservation and new technologies. And Alaska is kind of interested position - we touch all those areas, but we're also ground zero for climate change. We see the effects of no energy policy for the last 30, 40 years. We see it every single day with climate change activities throughout our whole state.

So that's an area that I hope to work with the president and the new Congress on aggressively, but a long-term plan. None of this two, three, four, five year plan, but a 20, 30, 40-year plan of how to become more independent with our energy sources here in this country.

Tavis: Let me ask you whether or not you think we're actually ready to make that kind of commitment. I ask that, Senator-elect, against the backdrop of the fact that for years, certainly during my voting lifetime, every four years I've heard this conversation about energy independence, and we still haven't gotten there yet. What makes you think that now is the time where we really can and will, in fact, turn the corner on getting serious on this issue?

Begich: Well, I think a couple things. One we just went through, when we saw the price of oil at $140 a barrel. People really felt it very quickly, and you saw demand shrink rapidly, and that had an impact on the price. The other thing is as we're struggling through this economic crisis, we kind of have everything hitting at once - economic crisis, energy crisis, healthcare crisis - you can probably put crisis after everything and it's right now in our time.

So I think you have a combo. Because the energy issue is not only important to get us more energy independent, it's the new economy. It's the new opportunity for new jobs. When you think about, for example, what we're doing here in Anchorage, we're pulling methane gas out of our landfill to supply heating power for 40 years for 2,500 homes. That's a new project. Our wind energy project. These are new jobs in a new economy that we can build here in our country.

So in a lot of ways, we have the right dynamics. Also, I think you have a different type of people getting elected to the Senate - I'm one of those. We're interested in solutions. We're not interested in a lot of jawboning. We're interested in getting some stuff done and getting busy and solving these problems, and it's going to be one of the issues I talk a lot about in the Democratic caucus, but also across the aisle to the Republicans.

Tavis: Got just a minute to go here - speaking of those Democrats you'll be working with in Washington, some major high-profile appointments today. Everybody's heard, of course, Hillary Clinton is going to be secretary of State, and down the list we go - Robert Gates, going to stay on as the Defense secretary - that notion of team of rivals. Very quickly, what do you make of how this team, this Obama team, is coming together in Washington?

Begich: I like the approach he's taking because these are folks he's appointing that are going to put their ideas on the table. They're not going to be bashful, and I think in these times we're facing we need some good ideas. And the challenge of these ideas - they shouldn't be all yes people, and I think what he's assembling is a team of people that are strong-willed, a lot of good thoughts, and they're going to sit down and challenge the ideas that we have to deal with in this country.

So I like the approach. It's the approach I took as mayor of Anchorage - get people in there that may not always agree with you but are going to put the ideas on the table and be straightforward with you, and I think he's doing the right approach here.

Tavis: He's the only Democrat nationally from the state of Alaska, but will be joining, of course, many other Democrats now in the Senate and in Washington, as Mr. Obama gets this historic administration underway in Washington just a few weeks from now. Senator-elect Mark Begich, nice to have you on the program. Congratulations again - all the best to you in your tenure in the U.S. Senate, sir.

Begich: Thank you very much, and any time you want me back, be happy to talk with you. But again, good luck and I'll look forward to working in Washington, D.C.

Tavis: Thank you, sir.