I can still recall, with some clarity, my first encounter with Sean Parnell.

The piece that interview yielded may be the only chance I’ll ever have to use the word “underwhelming” in the lede.

And yet, by the time I got through the interview—and through the story—I came away with a somewhat different impression of the man than the perception you’re hearing a lot about now. The dominant narrative about Sean Parnell at the moment, of course, is what you might call the “Captain Zero” one. That’s the nickname which Congressman Don Young—against whom Parnell was running for Alaska’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives at the time—tagged Parnell on a talk radio show last fall during the heat of the campaign. The criticism wasn’t aimed so much at any of his ideas or policy goals as much as it was a jab as his lack of charisma and bland public persona.

Not long after that, Mike Porcaro told the Wall Street Journal, “If Sean were a food, he would be a nice bowl of warm oatmeal.”

And to be honest, these criticisms aren’t unfair. Parnell is a quiet man in a profession that rewards bombast and self-aggrandizement, or at least shrewd aggressiveness. It’s not only unusual to meet such a politician, it’s also fair to wonder whether he might survive in the red-in-tooth-and-claw world of politics.

In the August primary, Parnell lost to Young by only a few hundred votes. And since then, he’s managed to fade mostly into the background. Despite the campaign, and reports from Outside that he “served as the face of state government” (that same WSJ article) in Governor Sarah Palin’s absence, Parnell has stayed mostly off the radar of even politically-minded Alaskans.

When he’s sworn in as governor of the state later this month, Parnell will be stepping onto the biggest stage he’s ever been on or may ever have the chance to. The opportunity comes as a mixed blessing for Parnell. He’ll get to be governor without having been elected, thanks to Palin’s abrupt departure. But her departure will also make the job more tempting for those who were already thinking about running. At the time of this writing, more than a year out from the election, there are already almost a dozen candidates who’ve filed their intent to run, and Parnell intends to keep the job he’s been handed. It’s going to be hard enough to try to be an effective governor in such a short amount of time; it’ll be harder having to do it with a campaign going the entire time.

Still, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. And there are a few things that he can do that will go a long ways toward ensuring a successful tenure in the governor’s mansion.

The first is to prove that he’s his own man. David Paterson, New York’s current governor, has one of the most dismal approval ratings in the nation at the moment. Paterson, like Parnell, was a relatively unknown quantity before Eliot Spitzer tapped him as a running mate. After Spitzer’s resignation, Paterson waited too long to advance his own agenda. He’s made a few bold moves since, but not before whatever political capital he might’ve accumulated had evaporated. If Parnell wants to be effective, he can’t afford to take so long emerging from the shadows of his flashy former boss. And while it was probably wise for him to retain Mike Nizich—a man who probably knows the governor’s job better than most governors by now—that hasn’t sent the message that he’s independent, so he’ll have to find another way to do so.

The best way I can think of would be to pick one or two major policy goals and make them signature issues. Only Sean Parnell can decide what those will be, but there are plenty of big ones in front of the state (Palin’s litany of supposed accomplishments notwithstanding).

To do this, of course, he’ll need the support of a part-time and sometimes fractious legislature. Getting it will be a task made no easier by the fact that many in the legislature will be eyeing his job themselves or allying themselves with those who have (Anchorage Democratic Senator Hollis French is among those who’ve already begun the process, and Valdez Republican Speaker of the House John Harris wants the job also). Fortunately for Parnell, he has experience in the legislature, so he knows how to navigate between competing interests. He even made a reputation for himself as a negotiator.

Which brings me back around to that first interview with Parnell. While Parnell failed to inspire much during our questions on policy issues, he came alive while discussing the nuances of diplomacy, particularly during a trip he’d just taken to the Middle East with the Aspen Institute. We wound up headlining that piece “The statesman.”

That could yet be an appropriate name for his impending tenure as governor, and it’d certainly be an appropriate approach to a foreshortened governorship.

Certainly we’ve witnessed the results—or lack thereof—yielded by the opposite approach over the last year or two.

krestia.degeorge@anchoragepress.com