Posted on 09/18/2010 3:20:16 AM PDT by Clintonfatigued
The U.S. Senate race in Alaska was turned on its head in August, when Tea Party Express-backed candidate Joe Miller upset incumbent Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary. On Friday evening, Murkowski stunned the state again with a decision to mount a write-in campaign to hold on to her seat.
"This is a statement we must make for Alaskans. Together we can do what they say cannot be done. Alaska is not fair game for outside extremists. We are smarter than that … and we will not be had," Murkowski said as cheering supporters in Anchorage shouted, "Run, Lisa, run!"
The announcement sets up a bruising battle between moderates and the conservative "tea party" movement on the rich Republican turf of Alaska, and provides a potential new ray of opportunity for the Democrats, who now stand to capitalize on intramural turmoil within the dominant GOP.
Analysts said the eight-year incumbent has a tough road ahead to edge into Miller's already commanding lead.
"She's taking on the winner of the Republican primary, and she's not going to have the support she thought she would have," cautioned David Dittman, a veteran GOP pollster in Alaska.
The national Republican leadership has lined up behind Miller, a Fairbanks lawyer who has called for giving Alaska control of the millions of acres of federal lands within its borders and who wants to phase out Social Security and Medicare.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reiterated his support for Miller and said Friday night that he accepted Murkowski's resignation from her Senate leadership position as vice chairman of the Republican Conference. The Republican National Committee echoed that support.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.latimes.com ...
I just sent an Email through her campaign site telling her, nicely, how by going against the will of the majority of her party that she is showing poor character and selfishness. I know it won’t matter but it would be nice if it had an effect.
I would think a lot of p*ssed off Republicans are doing that right now. :-)
Demand she returns the funds to the the GOP.
It shows who they really are doesn’t it?
Last time I saw a mouth like that it had a hook in it!
So what do you do -- do you just sit out every election in Massachusetts then?
Must all your candidates be nominees for cannonization before you'll vote for them?
Are you a nominee for cannonization yourself? If not, why not?
And if not, is it not you who should be so ashamed instead of feeling the need to point a finger at everyone else?
If you sat at home and didn't vote because no one was perfect enough for you, or you wrote in someone who was never a contender, just know one thing: your failure to vote, or choice to vote for Don Quixote is the equivalent of voting for whoever won.
And with the possible exception of Scott Brown, you've got a lot of liberal Massachusetts pols to account for that you have by all accounts unwittingly helped to elect.
You and I both likely know of the 50-year old John Birch Society, located in Belmont, MA.
The Birchers of Belmont were right about a lot of things, but too stuck in their own self-righteousness to effect any real change that has done anything substantive or that resembles anything successful leading the political way back to a true conservatism.
Your posture sounds very much like that of a Bircher.
I nominate her for the January slot because no one better than she represents Janus, the two-faced Roman god after whom January was named.
Leni
LOL! Be careful... the tin foil in your hat must be wearing thin. Then the next thing you know, you'll have posted a rant on the military/industrial complex conspiring with W to blow up the World Trade Center in order to flood the world with fluoride and contaminate our precious bodily fluids.
Don't bother arguing it... I have my Art Bell© brand disgronificator set to "neutralize"...
This is the last chance that the RSNC has a chance to redeem themselves: The NRSC has lost the respect of the rank and file by backing these RINOs to the hilt in the Primary. If they want to exist next year, the NRSC will have to convinence these loser the door.
If not - the ‘Tea Party’ will be the distributing funds in the future!
“So what do you do — do you just sit out every election...”
No, I vote for conservatives, only conservatives. If the GOP doesn’t run a conservative, then it’s their fault that I vote third-party.
In my state over 10% of the vote for senator is in conservative third parties because the Republican candidate is a RINO. That sends a strong message that RINOs can’t win here. It will change the RINO’s behavior and all future candidates.
I predict that Palin will spend a lot of time instate, campaigning with/for Miller..she wants to finish off Lisa..
Not at all. I voted for and campaigned for Republicans, whenever the party had someone serious running. I voted for Perot his first time, and campaigned for him. I campaigned on the county level for the most sane choices for sherriff. I got involved in the nomination process with the Republican town committee.
Hardly. I actually didn't mind Bill Weld at first. I've been disillusioned with the Republican Party since Dan Quayle was marginalized. He would've been a very fine President. And I'm thinking Senator DeMint looks pretty good.
Uh....you have a total non sequitor here. Can you deny that Liebermann is just about always voting with the insurance companies and for anything that helps Israel?
I just sent her an email under “Judicial” asking why the GOP shouldn’t sue her for the funds she doesn’t return. I feel better now.
There are a lot of RINOs I would like to “cannonize”, but none offhand would I consider “canonizing.” hehe.
I’m glad her highness lost the primary. Come election day she is really going to lose. She may get some write in votes during early voting and absentee ballots, but during the general elections; I just can’t see the electorate writing out “Murkowski”. Voters just won’t do it. Oh and every ballot that is misspelled should be challenged and thrown out. I wish her last name was Swartzenager. Go Joe Miller!
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