Republican leader in Alaska entertained by smart French statesman (6)
I believe the answer is:
chirac
'french statesman' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'republican leader in alaska entertained by smart' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'leader in' suggests taking the first letters.
'entertained by' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are hosted or entertained).
'smart' becomes 'chic' (both can mean stylish).
The initial letter of 'alaska' is 'a'.
'r'+'a'='ra'
'ra' going into 'chic' is 'CHIRAC'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chirac that I've seen before include "Jacques, French president 1995-2007" , "Jacques --, former French president" .)