Murkowski to Declare Victory Tonight
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski will declare victory later today in the seemingly endless senate battle with Joe Miller, also a Republican. Miller was endorsed not only by Sarah Palin, but received considerable financial backing from the Tea Party Express. On the other side of the coin, Murkowski received considerable financial backing from corporations, but her write-in victory has dealt a blow to the Tea Party and to Sarah Palin in her home state.
“We’ve said all along, we’ll wait for the votes to be counted,” Murkowski Campaign Manager Kevin Sweeney told CNN. “The votes will be counted this afternoon.”
When asked if, in fact, Murkowski will claim victory in her evening speech at an Anchorage Laborer’s Hall, Sweeney told CNN, “Yes.”
The Division of Elections is counting 100,868 votes for Murkowski and 90,448 for Miller. 8,153 votes have been contested by the Miller campaign. So, Murkowski is the apparent winner, even if none of the ballots contested by the Miller campaign are counted.
Murkowski, who is flying back from D.C. this afternoon, is expected to declare victory at a 5:50pm news conference Murkowski was en route to Alaska from Washington D.C. Wednesday afternoon, and is expected to claim victory at a 5:50 p.m. press conference followed by a gathering of her supporters at the Laborer’s Hall in Anchorage.
Despite her party-less victory, Murkowski has stated that she will continue to caucus with the Republicans in the Senate. Alaska’s was the last senate race to be decided in this election cycle.
Joe Miller told Fox News today that he is not conceding the race, and will decide at the end of the week whether the campaign will request a recount.
Miller has said previously he would stop contesting the election if it became obvious he has no chance. Tuesday night, though, the Miller campaign called Alaska’s computerized voting system “suspect,” and spokesman Randy DeSoto said he wants the Division of Elections to recount the entire Senate count by hand.
If there is any recount, the Miller campaign would have to pay for it. The state only pays for recounts if a candidate is within .5 percent of winning.
Miller’s fight to count only ballots that perfectly spelled Murkowski’s name appears not to matter in terms of the actual result of the election, but it will be interesting to see how far the Miller campaign will take issues – not of voter intent, but of election integrity if it appears that they may not help their candidacy achieve victory.
Stay tuned…
Why are you crying Joe Miller Joe Miller
Why do the tears pour now from your eyes?
You sold out your soul for bad tea and Sad Sarah
So take your bad beard and we’ll shout Hurrah.
Alaska is old, and Alaska is cold
And Alaskan’s don’t go for whiners that hate.
In a land full of ice it helps to be nice
And Joe Miller Joe Miller you ain’t.
So cry your eyes out now Joe Miller Joe Miller
Just go away now Joe Miller, we cry
Alaska has won while you lost big today
So STFU and just go away.
Gail Collins of the New York Times sums up my feelings!
“Murkowski’s first step upon returning to Washington will be to lobby to retain her post as the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
So not exactly a victory for oppressed womanhood. However, a definite defeat for Sarah Palin. Let’s take our little pleasures where we can get them.”
maybe Scott can go for Don Young’s seat in 2 years, then go for Lisa’s 4 yrs later.. should take care of the Name Recognition bit……
I’m thinking a Leg for 2 and Governor in 4 myself… 🙂
I wanted Scott McAdams to win, I contributed to his campaign, and I’m looking at his face on my thank you postcard right now.
That said, Lease-A has apparently beat the odds as well as Miller. Now, Alaskans, please write her since she has a seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and tell her to OPPOSE both Barton and Shimkus for the Chair.
Well, Fox may make Joe a contributor!! They seem to take losers!!!
Will Joe get the deposit back on his bachelor pad? His name plate? Carpet? If so, he can buy a razor and some shampoo. 🙂
A loss for Joe is a loss for Palin. That’s a good thing. Otherwise, I’m not sure it will make much difference for Alaska and the voting record.
The one I feel sorry for is Kathleen. She’ll have to work a real job in addition to home schooling to support the family because ambulance chasers in Barrow would be crazy to hire him. AND she’s going to have him around the house all day. 🙁
Lost in all of this craziness is that Scott McAdams was a really great candidate. At least from where I was watching. I hope he stays in public service. A breath of fresh air.
Let’s find something instead of ‘breath of fresh air’–that is forever tainted (IMO) by Mrs. Todd Palin being a breath of fresh air. Scott McAdams is a man of the people, honest, and apparently ethical and full of integrity. I know, too many words. Maybe ‘breathes fresh air with integrity’?
After Lisa Murkowski lost it seems that Joe Miller, Sarah Palin, and others became nasty and rude, to say the least. (Big surprise there, right?)
I’m glad the Lisa M. fought back and won. Yes, Lisa M. is a a hard-core right wing Republican but she’s a lot better than Joe, Sarah, and the Tea Party Whack-a-doos, who are endorsed by the extreme wing of the Republican Party.
I really liked the post a few weeks back about how it was mathematically impossible for a write in to win. Now I’d like to see a mea culpa and and explanation about how this happened.
Course, I’d also like to see Bush/Cheney tried for war crimes at the Hague. But perhaps we can start with a small accountability, and work our way up.
Explanation: Lisa didn’t bother to run a campaign in the primary, and she got skunked by the Tee Pees, and their outside buddies who dropped a boatload of cash behind Miller.
Democrats abandoned their candidate in droves because they were afraid of Joe Miller and Lisa Murkowski convinced them it would be better to vote for a Republican they dislike instead of one who’s crazy. And she convinced them with millions of corporate dollars. So, yeah. Mea culpa.
If you’re a Republican and you voted for Lisa, congratulations. If you’re a Dem who did… I hope you can live with it for the next six or twelve or eighteen or more years. Now that you’ve had your little happy moment, you can have fun with the Bush/Cheney war crimes thing. Or maybe as an interim step, you can ask Lisa why she wants a $75 million cap on oil spill damages, or why she voted for Alito and Roberts and not Kagan and Sotomayor, or where she was on the DADT vote, or where she was on the Paycheck Equity vote, or what’s going to happen with the Tongass, or who she’s going to owe for giving her this victory. It’s certainly not you and me.
Rant over.
I second that rant.
Great rant!! You and KO do rants worth paying attention to.
I’m still pouting over the fact Scott lost this one and hoping he’ll run again for office, a house seat maybe?
As it is there’s now another right wing, knee jerk, vote no on everything, obstructionist being sent to DC. She showed her colors already-tonight- with O’Donnell. Nothing has changed.
I 3rd ,4th, 5th your rant AKM.
As one who respectfully disagreed with almost everyone about whether this win was possible I’m not asking folks to do a mea culpa.
I think it obvious that folks underestimated Alaskans’ fear of “loss of experience” evidenced in the constant retention of Mr Young in the face of his alarming disconnect with constituents… and well, reality in general.
Assuming Alaskans are smarter than that is not an offense for which one should have to beg pardon… It is an assumption we should work hard to make reality rather than demand apologies for.
While Ms Murkowski fools around deciding how she can best position herself in relation to us , the party, and the Senate in general, I have the same questions you do AKM…
and many more.
Her work in the last few years lost any trust I might have been building that she would work for all Alaskans or be part of a vital, engaged approach to moving America out of the messes we are in with as little damage to everyday people as possible.
Hey, I’m safe in Hawaii, where our Democratic Dans could be caught with live boys and dead girls, and still get reelected.
Admittedly this is a major stretch but suppose, just suppose, there really were shenanigans involved with those ballots that were received ‘pre-sorted’.
The Miller camp, having won the primary, had a solid expectation of a minimum percentage of those votes (meaning it would be immediately suspect if any appreciable number of ‘his’ base suddenly switched to Lisa, ya’ know?)
So if any ballots were ‘exchanged’, it would make sense that McAdams’ were sorted out.
Just my 2 cents.
Well Alaska loses, again.
MAYBE — she’ll actually act lke a United States Senator… and vote for the START treaty… after all .. Alaska IS part of the first line of defense,,,y’all will get hit a few minutes before the rest of the Lower 48…..
A pyrrhic victory. More later.
Well , I hope so on both counts… the PV and the more later…
1) It’s a good thing that Joe Miller LOST.. because it’s Joe Miller and it a stake thru the Swag-Hag virtual heart…
2) It’s shame that Murkowski has to be such an egocentric, anti-anything that has been proposed or suggested or maybe even thought in private, raving bitch, but I just saw her interview with Cris Hayes (subbing for Lawrence O’Donnell) on MSNBC and you would have thought it was Mitch McConnell.
She doesn’t believe that the Dream Act should be brought up in the lame-duck congress, she doesn’t want to talk about the START treaty, she doesn’t believe DADT should be debated or acted upon in the lame-duck session, etc..etc…etc… She would have probably followed ALL her Senate colleagues in voting DOWN the FAIR PAY FOR WOWEN’S Act TODAY!!!
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/17/paycheck-fairness-act-fail/
It sure would have been nice if the Swag-Hag hadn’t been such an unwanted distraction in this race and we had all gotten to know Scott better…
As I watched that interview I couldn’t help but think how lame and arrogant she was to not even answer the question. Sounds just like Joe doesn’t it?
Considering Lisa lead in the polls going into the primary, this vote makes more sense than the primary did.
But I agree with Shannon something stinks about this whole thing.
Some posters are thinking about Lisa M. perhaps moving to the Left, but doubting that she will. I think there is less than a zero chance she’ll do anything of the sort – after all, she hired the “Swiftboat” cretins and liars to assist her recently – I’m delighted she defeated Joe Miller. That guy is over the top when it comes to arrogance and Tea Party Crazy.
Alaskans are showing the Lower 48 that Sarah’s touch is not magical. Hope Lisa drops the goods on Palin.
I hope EVERYONE drops the goods on the Grifter (1/2) Gov.
Too bad you all had to go through this, but I hope she does represent all of you and not just the oil interests. And I hope she flips the bird to the R guys in charge for telling her to drop out–that’s for dipsh:ts like the Grifter (1/2) Gov.
I doubt that will happen. Murkowski wants to keep her senior seat on the Energy Committee, and the GOP wants as many Repug votes as it can get. There is no love lost between the Quitter and the Original Drill Baby, but you won’t see any change in her attitudes or votes-
You said it, Fairbanks_Rick!!!! I concur!!!
To the extent that Joe’s loss darkens SP and Co.’s star, then all the better for Alaska and the nation. Lisa’s an old-school Repub; we know what we’ll get with that. Joe’s a wingnut.
YAY….!
A loss for Miller is a loss for Pantsonfire. Sadly, the loss is still a loss for Alaska.
Wow. The first woman ever to win as a write in. I voted for Scott, but am glad Lisa won over the un shaven one.
Very neat accomplishment, just wish she was a Dem.
Look how long it took before Franken was allowed in.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/220137/MILLER-TWEETS.jpg
I really don’t know much about Murkowski, except I heard she doesn’t have much love for the quitter Gov.
If this means that she will work against Palin, should she run for P in 2012—–I can pat her on the back or this. I am also sure that she knows a lot more about the quitter that could put a dent in the fender. She also may move more to the left as she starts her new term.
I think she will fight Palin or at least contribute what info she can get to the fight, but I am not so sure she will move left. After all, all those hooks and ties to the corporate world and the GOP seem pretty firmly attached. As I said above, I hope I am wrong, and she rises above expectations.
She said that Palin lacks “intellectual curiosity.” That pretty much says everything in a nut shell.
.
I wonder how much more money the Koch brothers are willing to drop into the Miller sinkhole.
Aside from potential delays to swearing in Murkowski, I guess Brawny towel prices will just go up to offset their losses. Maybe Joe can pose for the Brawny man ads to supplement his income. Supporting three blonds can get expensive when you have 10 kids. (Sorry, the snark monster just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.)
Everyone here knows I got what I asked for. I’m not naive in thinking she’ll show Red Meat Alaska what a real liberal is. . .my fear is real that she will contribute to an obstructionist agenda for the next two years. But I think she has had a lot of time to reflect and I think she is reconsidering her legacy for how she is currently painted.
Middle / mainstream Alaskans showed Lisa that we could pool behind her at the cost of a good man who may become a strong player in State politics. We helped her conquer a seemingly insurmountable obstacle – we wrote her name in, correctly – ESL and all. The R’s did not back her, over 90,000 jerks voted for a man as flawed, paranoid, defensive, unethical and self serving as Sarah Palin. R’s here at home or in Washington, like DeMint, McConnell, all those establishment a-holes stuck knives in her back and asked her to be gracious in losing to our Primary complacency.
Our message will remain, we want sanity, reasoned and measured consideration on the issues and doing what is best for Alaska, not to simply tow the party line. It is no doubt a delicate balance, to appease the Red Meat fundies in this State, but she wouldn’t have pulled this out if it weren’t for us Independents and Dems that showed her we can believe in a person and not the Party to do the right thing for Alaska.
I am not convinced she will remember her debt to those of you who vote for her. She is far greater debt to the big money interests who backed her. Just saying, I hope I am wrong and you are right, but Lisa seems pretty well-entrenched with the corporate lobby. I hope you don’t get buyer’s remorse later.
Good luck with that.
If it were me. I would stick to my party and be a little dirty Harry.
Chances are she will stay a hardcore Republican. So don’t hold your breathe for some silly Dem payback.
She doesn’t have any evidence of Dems voting for her: 70,000 registered Dems, 60,000 voted for McAdams.
Lisa’s interview on Lawrence O’Donnell sounded like same old same old tonight. Let’s obstruct anything that comes up in Lame Duck session.
Your fears of obstructionism were realized this afternoon when she voted in synchronicity with the rest of the Republicans to filibuster the Fair Wages for All Bill. Right off the bat Lisa not only resumes her obstructionist fealty to party ideology but does so at the expense of equal pay for women.
I absolutely agree. I come from the left, but if we keep moving farther to the left, we look like and sound like the right.
She was the right choice, the only possibly choice.
so interesting he didn’t sue after the primary or demand a hand recount after he won, but now he’s down and out in Anchorage, he’ll do anything. Someone enlighten me, what was his last job? Has he had a job in the last few years? I hope the Fairbanks Borough hands over documents to the po-po and have Joey arrested.
His job is Joe W. Miller, LLC, that is, he was a divorce attorney in Fairbanks. Ambulance chaser, drunk drivers, that sort of stuff. He owes more on his credit cards than what he earns, at least that’s what his disclosure form shows. Dunno how that gives one street cred as a fiscal conservative. You probably have heard all the rest of his, um, resume.
Oh my! This should be interesting. Alas…I’ll have to catch up in the morning.