I do not think Murkowski will split the Republican vote. I think she will split the liberal vote, none of whom were voting for Joe Miller anyway. Rockefeller Republicans who couldn’t stomach pulling the lever for a real conservative like Joe Miller and would have, openly or not, voted for the Democrat, will now have the option of voting for Murkowski. How many GOP voters who would otherwise have voted for Miller are now going to vote for Murkowski? I can’t think it will be too many.
By the way, a lot of voters would mess up the spelling of Murkowski on a write-in. Does spelling count? Or will the machine bring up Al Franken vote counters from Minnesota to count similar-sounding names, like Smith or Jones?
Same scenario is in Florida, except that Crist saw a primary loss coming soon enough to register as an Independent and get his name on the ballot. IT”S NOT WORKING. He is taking shots from Meek and Rubio and is now double digits behind Rubio.