Petersburg Pilot -

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Some of the sharpest jabs during a relatively tame debate Thursday featuring the major candidates for governor in Alaska were aimed at Republican nominee Mike Dunleavy.

The conservative former state senator said later that his rivals, independent Gov. Bill Walker and Democrat Mark Begich, could see him as the one to beat and the one who concerns them the most.

“They should. I think I’ve got some great ideas to get us out of this,” he said.

Alaska fell into a recession after a crash in oil prices that also exploded the size of the state’s budget deficit. Price...