The Alaska Senate Race – Round Two. Ding!
Here’s a quick update on the Alaska Senate Race for those of you still playing along at home.
As it stands right now “Write-In Candidate” is 13,439 votes ahead of Joe Miller. We don’t know how many are actually for Lisa Murkowski, but we can presume it’s a large percent somewhere in the neighborhood of all of them. How many will be thrown out because of error? History tells us about 7%. What kind of spelling deviations will still be allowed? Where is the thin bright line between voter intent, and close but no cigar? What happens for people who write her in with red pen, or in pencil, or are two letters off or three, or who just say Murkowski, or a million other things? We don’t know.
And then there’s Joe Miller. He has not conceded, and says he won’t until all the votes are counted. Will the 37,800(ish) absentee ballots (which are usually heavily military) favor Miller? Will there be enough of a gain in absentee ballots, when combined with the write-in votes that won’t be counted to keep Miller in the race? We don’t know.
We do know that the ballots will be counted sooner than we thought they would. Originally the 83,000+ write-in ballots were scheduled to be counted starting November 18, but instead the count will begin on Wednesday, November 10 in Juneau. Why in Juneau and not Anchorage? We don’t know.
Lisa Murkowski is scheduled to be boots on the ground in Washington D.C. today to host a fundraiser for her brand new legal defense fund called the “Alaska Voter Protection Fund.” That’s almost as teeming with hubris as Palin’s legal defense fund called the “Alaska Fund Trust.”
Joe Miller’s campaign responded to the news via Twitter:
#Murkowski creates legal defense fund to battle #Miller. Bring it on!
Half an hour later came another tweet from Miller:
#NRSC / Republicans ask supporters to donate to Joe Miller’s legal fund
We’re going to give Joe Miller a style point here, because we come to find out that the name of his Legal Defense Fund is “The Joe Miller Recount Fund.” Thank you, Joe Miller. Thank you for not calling it the “Defend Patriotic Liberty Freedom Constitution North to the Future Fund.”
So, not only did John Cornyn (R) of Texas and Chair of the RNSC send out a mailer with hand out pleading, “Joe needs your help to make sure he has enough money to make it a fair contest,” but we also hear from Jim DeMint, Chair of the Senate Conservatives Fund. Joe (our little Junior DeMint) has a champion, it seems, in the man whom he said he admired most in the Senate. De Mint also sent out a letter telling us that Joe Miller is “in the race of his life against Senator Lisa Murkowski who ran as a independent write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary.”
The letter goes on to make the assertion that the Murkowski team will be “fighting to bend the law in Alaska, which requires write-in ballots to accurately state the candidate’s name.”
“Fighting to bend the law?” Oooooo. Them’s fightin’ words.
Here we go… Welcome to the Battle of the Legal Funds.
In this corner wearing a thin veneer of blue, for Lisa Murkowski we have Ted Stevens’ former attorney Tim McKeever, and … Ben Ginsberg of 2000 Florida recount fame! Ah, yes. We remember it well.
And in this corner, wearing layer upon layer of red, and raking in the green for Joe Miller we have…. (wait for it)…. (you know it’s coming)…. Thomas Van Flein of Palin & Palin fame! We remember that well, too.
It’s an electoral cage match – a battle to the death – Tea Party Whacko v. Entitled Status Quo.
And just to make things a little more interesting, the Miller campaign and the Division of Elections are going at it too. Miller’s campaign was not notified by the Division of Elections about the validation of ballots. This is the process by which the voters themselves are determined to be legitimate. The validation process started with Murkowski representation present, but nobody from the Miller campaign in sight.
This latest strangeness started, according to the Division of Elections, when Miller forgot to fill out contact information for the campaign on a form. Therefore, says Gail Fenumiai, the Miller campaign was not informed that the validation had already begun. Could the Division of Elections somehow have figured out how to notify the Miller campaign? Undoubtedly. Did they technically, legally HAVE to? Probably not.
It would appear that Joe Miller is now fighting a war on two fronts. That usually doesn’t go well.
But fear not. Joe Miller has a secret weapon revealed through a fan’s tweet:
Believers from 4 states just joined in with many from Alaska to pray for @JoeWMiller and the outcome of the election. It’s not over. Pray.
http://jonathanturley.org/2010/11/08/massachusetts-lawyer-accused-of-shredding-court-file-to-block-murder-trial/
Just in case you wondered if people as dumb and as legally and ethically challenged as Miller can some how get into and out of law school and be allowed into the bar.
There certainly is.
The question isn’t whether or not people as dumb and legally and ethically challenged as Miller (and his ilk) get into, out of and pass the bar. It’s whether they’re permitted to remain there, or they are DISbarred…
Please pass the popcorn. I really am not rooting for either one of these two to win. Joe the Bumbler could be thrown out of the Senate on his tush if he resorted to anything unethical. And we could start all over again. 🙂
Or he could actually tilt Congress away from its most egregious status quo activities–for lobbyists.
Or he could be so weird that he would be totally ineffective.
All very Alaskan, actually.
I mean it’s not like Lisa is going to tip any vote toward the values that Democrats support. She couldn’t even support the two new Supreme Court justices that were supported by other more reasonable Republicans. She’s a well-rehearsed and polished NO vote on anything constructive.
Scott McAdams will go up again political circles..no doubt he is a very honest ..sincere person with good
common sense ideas..unlike the phony type of common sense Palin and her ilk spout. Keep up the news
on McAdams people..and help him and his ideas ..ways to become better and better known.
MIller and his ilk..and Palin have most likely done a lot to set back Christianity a lot. They come off as very
phony and hypocratical.
Why is there a question of why ballots are being counted in Juneau instead of Anchorage? JUNEAU IS THE CAPITAL FOR OUR STATE! It is the MOST appropriate place for this kind of work. Would California count ballots in Los Angeles instead of Sacramento? Would Washington State count ballots in Seattle instead of Olympia? Yo…southcentral, get over yourselves.
Thank you for also pointing this out. Not that the people who need to see it are reading here…
No, but Florida would count their ballots in the U.S. Supreme Court. Er…not count their ballots… 🙁
Do*n *ith the upside do*n M.
I shall have to admit to a prejudice here, and I hope everyone here at the flats can forgive my prejudice.
I am prejudiced against politicians with the middle initial “W.” I admit it. It makes me shiver. Every politician I know with that initial has made me squirm and twinge, and one has cost me a darned lot of money because he was blindsided by the bust. (How can one be blindsided by such a thing! I mean, everyone else saw it coming. That, and the torture pics from Iraq prisons.)
Baker’s Dozen, George w. Bush ( I even am repulsed by spelling out his name, yech! ) will be forever known as Little w. To ease my sick feeling I made a Little w crossword puzzle. Example:
1. across – four letter word describing intelligence of Little w.
OR the Little w noodle soup. A weak broth with one noodle. Shaped like a Little w of course.
OR The Little w school of thought. ( Palin and Miller musta graduated from there.)
OR The Little w Academy of Critical Thoughtlessness.
OR The Little w Show. ( Little w has a ventriloquist – Halliburton )
This year, it is a tie for who received the Dueling Banjo’s Award: McQuittyPants of Little w.
Therefore too again then again also.
Well, Joe’s supporters aren’t the only ones praying, with perhaps a different outcome in mind, I suspect that if he did get elected the state would be likely to turn ‘blue’ out of embarrassment, so it might turn out OK after all. Then everybody’s prayers would be answered! 🙂
They’re being counted in Juneau because it’s the STATE CAPITAL and is where the Div. of Elections is headquartered and because that’s where counts of absentee and such ballots take place. HELLO…get a grip Jo(k)e Miller. If he can’t figure out all of that…
Joe the W’s (see post below) coming out with a new book:
“Everything I Need to Know About Politics, I Learned From Sarah.”
Obviously, she told him the state capital is in Anchorage, just an easy drive from Wasilla. New he’s all confused.
LOL
Everyone was so busy dissing on Joe they forgot Lisa was due some strict scrutiny as well. The media never really picked up on it. While Joe’s lunchtime computer hacking was wrong, and his personal life contradicted his positions, that pales in comparison to what Lisa’s been up to in DC out of the glare of the Alaskan public eye…kinda like her dear ‘ol Dad did. As far I’m concerned her “indiscretions” are far worse than Joe’s. Take her almost Kenai land deal, that had the media not sniffed it out would’ve landed her some six-digit, big bucks real quick. What about her attempts to limit BP’s liability in the Gulf, or the real consequences of the Southeast land bill she’s been ramming down our throats here in Southeast? What about her alliance with and support of the sole-source, no-bid 8a contracts that have awarded the Alaska Native Corporations $29 BILLION in the last few years while the individual Alaska native averages $615 annually? Just her positions on public issues have a far greater negative impact on each and every individual Alaskan that any computer hacking Joe personally did. Simply because Lisa held office for a few years Alaskans seemed to accept that any further vetting was unnecessary. That’s when the hard-core vetting should have begun!
Lisa’s “past” and present are a treasure trove of interesting alliances with big business at the expense of all Alaskans and Americans. But never mind that now. She and her “DC Mafia” surely had a few toasts during her legal defense fundraiser in honor of all those voters she rolled during the election.
But what’s worse is that had she not decided to be the spoiler Scott would’ve won the race.
amen
It is not Lisa’s fault for running that Scott McAdams did not win. It is the fault of the voters who couldn’t see past their fear to support a really good candidate.
““Joe needs your help to make sure he has enough money to make it a fair contest,”
Why….does he need donated money so other people can count the votes?
Is this just to support joe’s daily living costs?
Why does he need donations, ie, free money?
IMO more scamming learned from mentor $P. Just me being crass.
Joe needs $$ for people to count the votes like SP needed to start a fund and quit the governorship to pay for legalebts, most of which were performed by state employees who were just doing their job.
The “heavily military” will vote Republican, but also, too, for the known quantity, the incumbent, rather than the unknown and questionable upstart who appears to be a loose cannon; I mean he upset the status quo, but that is not a good thing in that culture.
‘Twas ever thus, at least in the military I have known in the last 20 years.
The military knows $P is B$ and bull$hitting them.
BUT, if the only name on the military person’s ballot, with (R) after the name, is Joe Miller? It doesn’t list “incumbent”?
That I don’t know; I am assuming that a military person’s ballot is identical to an absentee ballot, which should allow (I hope) for a write-in candidate (if the person does not want to select the other options on the ballot).
I think the absentee ballots may have been sent in before the last minute to-dos re: JMiller’s lack of ethics, etc., so that will have an impact, if Scott McAdams and LM did not influence those voters in time.
It seems kind of premature to bet anything, until the Absentee ballots get counted. Particularly with the military vote, and the possibilities many of those were sent from overseas before he really started imploding. I realized today that perhaps the delay was to allow them to drift in via Postal Carrier before counting them in one wad.
I may find Joe Miller a whacko nutjob, but (in all fairness) it appears like the Division of Elections has bent over backwards to hand this election over to Leasa; like cheerfully handing over & posting in poll booths the initial lists with her name on them so people wouldn’t misspell, moving up the write-in vote count. I think if Joe wins he will crap out in one term. If Leasa wins, Alaska is stuck with the Corporate Party of No Senator for life.
I bet it ends up in the courts before this race is decided. JMO
Huh! Interesting, I’ve read it before but I guess I didn’t think about it much. Someone should point out that whole chapter to the tea party and right wing types who keep spewing hatred about our President and any other politician with whom they disagree. They must have skipped over that chapter.
I agree – right wing is supposed to be pro-military but they don’t get how demoralizing they are to military personnel when their Commander-in-Chief is denigrated.
I just want the military to be able to support the President, President Barack Obama, to the best of their ability. That way we can accomplish the goals and get our sons and daughters home from war.
Okay, that is personal – my stepdaughter (of the last 23 years) is about to be deployed again. I know she will be okay but I am pissed that it is in the service of protecting oil interests, i.e., Cheney’s Haliburton, rather than real issues of national security. Cripes.
What about the rumor that Joe’s supporters were going to mount fake write-in candidates to confuse the issue. Could some of the Write-In ballots be the fake ones or did that not really pan out?
Joke Miller has demonstrated that he did election-tampering before, albeit in his party’s politics. I don’t think he has the skill to abuse and fool the system again, but I don’t trust that he wouldn’t try. He has the hubris and the backing of ilk of Todd Palin’s caliber.
Shades says: And if LM ends up winning, will JM admit it was God’s will all along?
Well, if these idiots consider themselves good Christians they ought to read the ‘rules’ first, huh? According to their Good Book, it says that God will do the picking and therefore everyone else should just keep their hands out of it and obey the law.
I looked it up for ya, JoeBoy. Romans 13, the first few verses.
Not sure how he thinks he deserves Christian support for activities not supported by his own (stated) mores.
After having watched the last few video bits of him I’m betting he’s as much the sociopath as is his buddy Sarah. If there’s a God involved in those families I hope the kids get ripped outa there; the damage those two do simply by their public actions is unfathomable, so God only knows what goes on behind closed doors.
I agree. The actions of $arah Palin over the last few years, and of Joe W. Miller in this year, have served to cement (or concrete) my conviction that I am not a Christian nor do I ever want to be. What $arah Palin and Joe Miller represent is a faith I do not want to be associated with. I am so sorry that these two maroons have duped innocent and hard-working people in so many ways. I hope they burn in Hell Forever, and Ever Again.
Or at least are tried for Treason against our President Barack Obama. And for ignorance about our US Constitution and the Federal Reserve. And for being hypocrites.
After having watched the last few video bits of him I’m betting he’s as much the sociopath as is his buddy Sarah. If there’s a God involved in those families I hope the kids get ripped outa there; the damage those two do simply by their public actions is unfathomable, so God only knows what goes on behind closed doors
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you hit that one out the park.
it seems this is the era of the ‘out of the closet’ sociopaths.
they no longer pretend to be sane. they are thugs pure and simple and the media is not only useless against them they actually prove extremely useful in promoting them.
meanwhile the President goes to India amid scurrilous accusations from these psycho/sociopaths and comes home with billions of dollars worth of contracts for jobs for these ingrates.
“Bring it on” – Have it your way you hick!
Prayer warriors for Joe? I like the sound of that. Just remember, Joe, like Sarah Palin learned in 2008, sometimes God’s answer is: “no.”
Unfortunately like $P – he doesn’t hear “NO”, he’s still hearing “GO”… and missing the ending “AWAY”!
And if LM ends up winning, will JM admit it was God’s will all along?
If Lisa ends up winning, will it be seen as evidence of “God’s Will”, and be enough to force “Psycho Joe” to finally STFU and go away? Oh, if only….!
Did Ms Death Panels accept POTUS Barack Hussein Obama as God’s will?
Please open your hymnals to: “Lawyers, Guns and Money”, and pass the collection plates
Another appropriate ,for Joe, Zevon tune might be “My #hit’s #ucked Up” .
We saw Warren at the French Quarter Hard Rock where he did the song. He didn’t say anything about his lung cancer relating to the song, but he was dead in about a year.It was just him and a piano, had a local Liberal who came out and did a funny Progressive Politic Pep Talk s to the spectacularly drunken crowd, and also had the “I Kissed A Girl” up to do the song and sing a little backup.
I just remember lots of laughter, his excellent piano playing and one hell of a one man rendition of Lawyers Guns and Money to finish up.
Shit, my eyes are leaking. Warren was the best
All of those prayers will make the blackened oval jump from the handwritten Lisa Murkowski line right up to Joe’s line…
On another note now he’s accusing a contractor of electioneering on base – http://community.adn.com/adn/node/154214
Miller – accusing someone of breaking Federal Campaign Rules – That’s Rich…..
and then he goes to Faux to get his message out!