Palin Power Strikes Home

American Spectator ^ | July 6, 2010 | Robert Stacy McCain

[Al B.]

Joe Miller was on the phone from Alaska, explaining the difficulties of running for Senate in America's largest state.

"Campaigning statewide is exhausting," the Fairbanks lawyer said of his journeys across a state that has barely more people (about 700,000) than it has square miles. "A lot of flying on small airplanes -- it requires a lot of travel."

The size of the state may be exceeded by the size of the task Miller has taken on in mounting a primary challenge to Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The incumbent is the daughter of Frank Murkowski, whose influence in the Alaska GOP was once so powerful that he was able to appoint Lisa to fill the remainder of his Senate term after he was elected governor in 2002. Re-elected in 2004, she ended the first quarter of 2010 with more than $2 million campaign cash on hand -- a huge sum in Alaska politics, especially for an incumbent who can rely on her father's formidable connections inside the Republican establishment.

Any disinterested political observer would be tempted to rate Murkowski a lead-pipe cinch for re-election. The incumbent has only one major problem, and that problem can be summed up in two words: Sarah Palin.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

((((PING))))

[hattend]

I would be nice if Palin’s magic could take out two Murkowskis.

[RonDog]

Here's MORE from spectator.org:

...Miller's challenge also gives GOP voters in the Aug. 24 primary a chance to take a second look at the incumbent's record.

Based on her ratings from the American Conservative Union, early last year Human Events ranked Murkowski fifth on its list of "Top 10 Senate RINOs" -- barely more conservative than another notorious "Republican In Name Only," Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who switched to the Democrats shortly after the Human Events list was published.

The dreaded "RINO" tag can be the kiss of death in a Republican primary. Murkowski is pro-choice on abortion, while Miller has been praised as "a solid pro-life candidate" by the president of Alaska Right to Life.

And Murkowski is particularly vulnerable this year because -- as Miller highlights on his campaign website -- she voted for numerous big-government measures hated by the Tea Party grassroots, including the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Plan (TARP) bailout and the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the federally sponsored agencies implicated in the mortgage disaster.

While there have been no public polls in the GOP primary, Miller said the Alaska voters he's talked to during the campaign are fed up with the bipartisan deficit-spending spree in Washington...

[GATOR NAVY]

I’ll be voting for Miller in the primary but it’s got nothing to do with Palin’s endorsement. On the contrary, that’s the only thing that gives me pause about Miller. But Miller doesn’t really need Palin’s help. Everyone knows Murkowski is a total RINO. And most people here aren’t kidding themselves-they know Palin’s endorsement of Miller is due more to her personal dislike of Murkowski than anything else.