Posted on 08/25/2010 12:44:16 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In a shocking upset, Joe Miller is the winner of the Alaska Senate primary if the current vote projection holds for the Republican primary election. With half of the precincts reporting, Miller holds a slight 51.8 to 48.2% lead over the GOP incumbent senator. The vote lead has been consistent during the early counting and even increased slightly as more precincts have been counted in Alaska.
Joe Miller has been a heavy underdog in pre-election polls, trailing the senator by 20-30 points. Nobody thought this race would be close.
In fact, the mainstream media has been using the Alaska primary challenge from Miller as evidence that Sarah Palins endorsements are not all that useful. Palin endorsed Joe Miller several weeks ago. The press assumed that Lisa would beat Miller easily as the polls predicted, which fed a certain group-think that is comforting to liberals.
Even if the sitting senator manages to come back from the vote deficit, any victory for her will be razor thin. And that is appearing more and more unlikely as the evening progresses. In reality Palin is the most powerful voice in politics today. Her endorsements generate interest, campaign donations, grassroots support, and results at the ballot box.
The meme that Palin endorsements are irrelevant began surfacing in early August and became an oft repeated mantra by liberal television commentators in the mainstream media. If the Alaska senate results hold up for Joe Miller, the former governor of Alaska will have shut them up permanently.
Right Pundits will stay up late to give you the final Alaska primary results for Joe Miller just as soon as we can make an early call officially. We are almost there. Even as this brief piece was written, Joe Miller extended his lead slightly while more precincts in the state were counted. The winner of the Alaska primary appears to be Joe Miller, and Sarah Power will be undeniable even to her critics. We will make the call official soon, assuming it is warranted.
So what is known about Joe Millers biography? He has eight kids and a game wife named Kathleen Miller. He grew up in Kansas but moved west to Alaska at the age of 16. He holds a law degree and various positions of local authority in the judiciary, including that of U.S. Magistrate Judge in Fairbanks Alaska. He earned a Bronze Star for bravery in the Gulf War after graduating high in his class from West Point.
What an election result! Reader comments welcome.
A bouquet of black roses, coming up!
Heck, that ain’t nuthin’.
There’s a good number of Louis Farrakhan followers who believe that he was beamed up into a UFO and taken to the mother ship, where the Late Elijah Mohamed spoke to him.
A lot of the people who believe this voted for Obama.
Go figure...
- JP
No. I am serious and will maybe send her some kind of flowers if she concedes gracefully, assuming she does lose. It is less and less the way.
It’s too damned bad about McCain.
"Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has had plenty of successes this year, but might be about to rack up a big fail tonight as voters in her home state decide whether to oust Sen. Lisa Murkowski. There are few public polls for this race but operatives for both Republicans and Democrats tell TPM they expect Murkowski to prevail tonight by a wide margin."
"When Joe Miller loses the primary today, hardly anyone in Alaska will be surprised that Palin's chosen candidate did poorly. Palin's influence in the state started to slip when she agreed to be John McCain's running mate in August 2008, and it only eroded further when she resigned as governor last July. Now, Palin is mostly a reality TV nuisance in the very state she's always gushing about. The Washington Post may track her every endorsement, but this summer the Anchorage Daily News published more items on bears and caribou (45) than it did on Palin and her family (39). If Alaskans aren't paying attention to her, why should anybody else?"
- JP
I just want to see their faces rubbed in it—like when a dog messes on the carpet.
It would be so enjoyable to watch.
You folks should dismiss any verbage coming from the mainstream media about any of “Our” candidates or their supporters. They and the Democrat Party are in an absolute panic mode. Tonight the handwriting was clearly put up on the wall. Now, the Democrat Party had their opportunity to broom POTUS Obama and they nary lifted a finger. Now they can all go down to “Hell” with this anti-American, incompetent, buffoon and America destroyer. Folks, get out and vote on November 2, 2010 and destroy the entire Democrat Party at the polls. Every Democrat must be totally defeated and the Democrat Party destroyed as a political party!!!!
“I wish Sarah endorsed J.D. Hayworth in Arizona, too. Grrr!”
Besides returning the favor, I can’t help but wonder if there is something else...How was JD on Israel?
US SENATOR (R) REP
Total
Number of Precincts 438
Precincts Reporting 313 71.5 %
Times Counted 86278/487456 17.7 %
Total Votes 85632
Miller, Joe REP 44386 51.83%
Murkowski, Lisa REP 41246 48.17%
mccain was dropping fast in the polls and hayworth was moving up. Then Palin stepped in and mccain stopped looking back
Why the candidate of Sarah Palin and Tea Party Express is losing in Alaska
Dewey wins!
Eh. His name recognition is lower then the incumbent’s. I wouldn’t read much into it from that end. This isn’t a case like Rossi in Florida where voters have been acquainted with him as a national figure for well over a year. Miller shouldn’t even have been ableto make up this much ground with a lower profile in this short time span. It says something to the power of the grassroots that involved themselves in the race and Palin’s influence there.
For the race itself it’s still to close with too many votes unaccounted for. I’ll hold off on doing anything but keep a close eye on this. Obviously I’m praying Miller wins.
US SENATOR (R) REP
Total
Number of Precincts 438
Precincts Reporting 339 77.4 %
Times Counted 86837/487456 17.8 %
Total Votes 86176
Miller, Joe REP 44586 51.74%
Murkowski, Lisa REP 41590 48.26%
Murkowski in close contest for Alaska Senate
By BECKY BOHRER - Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski trailed her lesser-known conservative opponent Tuesday in a surprisingly tight race that was seen as a test of the political power of Sarah Palin and the tea party movement.
Joe Miller held a nearly 2,900-vote lead with two-thirds of precincts reporting as he looked to pull off one of the biggest political upsets of the year. Miller had 51.7 percent of the vote, compared with 48.2 percent for Murkowski.
Miller is a decorated Gulf War veteran backed by Palin and the Tea Party Express who sought to cast Murkowski as being too liberal and part of the problem in an out-of-control Washington. It is a campaign strategy that has helped oust other incumbents this year.
Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/08/25/1654244/murkowski-in-close-contest-for.html#ixzz0xbayY2Na
WAKE-UP, WAKE-UP! Good news on the Western front!
In Alaska, there’s an auto recount if the win is by 1% percent or less. Joe Miller’s lead is much more than that.
Like one Alaskan FReeper told me, “the GOP primary *is* the election.”
Joe Miller will win in November.
It's obvious that Huck's endorsement carried the day, isn't it? I have it on the best authority that Palin made no difference - just listen to any of the dozens of daily stories on almost every news site telling us that she's irrelevant and not newsworthy.
Multiple links in this thread with early obits for Miller and Palin by proxy. The urge to use her name and draw views back fired horribly on the various writers.
One interesting thing about it all is they (he writers) seem to think it a mistake to back someone that is ‘supposed’ to lose as though doing whats right matters not at all.
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