Posted on 09/17/2010 1:51:10 PM PDT by iowamark
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) will run for re-election as a write-in candidate after losing her bid for renomination, according to sources briefed on Murkowski's decision.
Murkowski's decision will set up a 3-way battle between the incumbent, Miller and Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams (D), potentially turning the race on its head. Private 3-way polling has shown Miller leading, but by a narrow margin.
Murkowski will make the formal announcement tonight in Anchorage. She has been mulling her options after losing to attorney Joe Miller (R) by 1.8% -- or about 2K votes out of 110K cast.
Miller won with the backing of the Tea Party Express and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). The Tea Party Express spent hundreds of thousands of dollars criticizing Murkowski's legislative accomplishments, and Palin campaigned against her rival in the race's closing days.
She has not formally said she will run, but her campaign is inviting reporters to call in. Murkowski spokespeople were not immediately available for comment Friday afternoon.
Campaign volunteers have been inviting supporters to a "kick-off" event tonight, the Anchorage Daily News reported this afternoon. And in comments to the paper on Thursday, Murkowski certainly sounded like a candidate.
"I'm not much of a poker player, but the analogy I've been using is that I'm sitting there and I've been dealt a six and an eight," Murkowski told the paper. "I'm not much of a poker player, but the analogy I've been using is that I'm sitting there and I've been dealt a six and an eight. But it is possible."
The NRSC has said it will back Miller, even though Murkowski is a member of Senate GOP leadership. NRSC communications director Brian Walsh referred inquiries to a statement the committee released last night and refused to elaborate further.
Begone wench! We weren’t that thrilled with you, or your Daddy.
Just a case of whose ox is being gored. Most of us were delighted when Lieberman did pretty much the same thing in Connecticut.
LMAO...are you kidding?...Rove denounce it? Hell he will be handing our pencils to them on election day
It’s amazing how many sore losers we have out there, I suppose she thinks this seat belongs to her family instead of “we the people!”
Castle will be next to show just what a Democrat he is, too.
She doesn't even have the seniority to be the Senate piss-boy. Believe me, she has no "leadership role".
Establishment republicans, especially RINOs, like Murkowski, Crist, Castle have the same arroganmt sense of entitlement as do democrats.
They cannot accpt the fact that the seat they are vacating in the senate or congress is not theirs. They would rather help a democrat win than let a Tea Party candidate or other real reformer into the inner santum.
SOS!
Save Our Statists! < /sarc >
We lived in Alaska for many years, and most voters won’t like this stunt of hers at all. The Murkowskis are the Alaskan version of the Kennedys - minus the alcohol, drugs, corruption and murder. They just love the power.
Her daddy Frank was rarely ever in the capital city during his term, and outside of one good thing he did with concealed carry was a lousy governor. Their hatred of the Palins has a lot to do with this in my opinion.
They need the numbers for lame duck session and, sadly, I must agree. The fit will hit the shan between Nov. and Jan.
"It’s a big, cold, awesome brutally spectacular place. To think this small, petty, freakishly smarmy woman thinks herself able to hold Alaska captive by selling her services to whoever pays for the pen and paper she signs is a color corrupted beyond an isotope of infrared."
Nicely done.
Lieberman did not run as a write in.
They need the numbers for lame duck session and, sadly, I must agree.
Her leadership position has nothing to do with her vote.
John Cornyn MADE A PROMISE.
Let he vote the way she wants and futher enrage the grassroots.
Rule or Ruin.
That is pretty darn crappy of you to insult the Hankeys like that.
What a cunning stunt.
She and Bennett were supposedly the 2 in the inner circle of McConnell.
That McConnell sure can pick em.
"I'm not much of a poker player, but the analogy I've been using is that I'm sitting there and I've been dealt a six and an eight. But it is possible."
Shameless pandering to the "People Who Say Everything Twice Party," a major force in Alaska politics.
One good thing experts found about hereditary legislators: they usually had a little more class than the hoi polloi.
When that's gone, you start to wonder why we let them hang around so long.
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