Free Republic

Just hours before the final deadline, dozens of Alaskans came out Thursday to register as write-in candidates in an effort to thwart Sen. Lisa Murkowski's bid to retain her Senate seat. At the urging of a local talk radio host, more than 50 people reportedly signed up to be write-in candidates with the Alaska Division of Elections before registration closed.

Washington (CNN) - In a surprise move, Senate Republicans decided not to remove Sen. Lisa Murkowski from her top position on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday, according to several Republican senators who refused to explain their decision. Republicans had indicated as recently as Tuesday she was likely to lose her seniority on the committee as penalty for her write-in candidacy in Alaska. A GOP source in the room tells CNN, despite anger towards Murkowski, the conference decided not to even take up the question of the Senate Energy Committee post because "there was a sense that she's...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) brushed off attacks by fellow GOP Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) over her write-in bid to defeat the nominee and Tea Party favorite Joe Miller, saying that her fellow senator was making people "uncomfortable." "Murkowski's betrayal provides more proof that big-tent hypocrites don't really care about winning a majority for Republicans," DeMint wrote in a scathing fundraising e-mail for Miller on Sunday, adding "principles have never been that important to Murkowski." Murkowski said on CNN's "State of the Union" that it wasn't up to DeMint or the California-based Tea Party Express to decide if Alaska's senator was...