Murkowski Will Run As Write-In
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) will run for re-election as a write-in candidate after losing her bid for renomination, according to sources briefed on Murkowski's decision.
Murkowski's decision will set up a 3-way battle between the incumbent, Miller and Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams (D), potentially turning the race on its head. Private 3-way polling has shown Miller leading, but by a narrow margin.
Murkowski will make the formal announcement tonight in Anchorage. She has been mulling her options after losing to attorney Joe Miller (R) by 1.8% -- or about 2K votes out of 110K cast.
Miller won with the backing of the Tea Party Express and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). The Tea Party Express spent hundreds of thousands of dollars criticizing Murkowski's legislative accomplishments, and Palin campaigned against her rival in the race's closing days.
She has not formally said she will run, but her campaign is inviting reporters to call in. Murkowski spokespeople were not immediately available for comment Friday afternoon.
Campaign volunteers have been inviting supporters to a "kick-off" event tonight, the Anchorage Daily News reported this afternoon. And in comments to the paper on Thursday, Murkowski certainly sounded like a candidate.
"I'm not much of a poker player, but the analogy I've been using is that I'm sitting there and I've been dealt a six and an eight," Murkowski told the paper. "And the guy across from me has two kings showing. And I'm hoping for the five, the seven and the nine. But it is possible."
Murkowski's bid comes despite both public and private pressure from top Senate Republicans to accept Miller's victory.
"The Republican leadership, the NRSC and the RNC support the Republican candidate period," said a senior Republican aide. "She knows that."
Murkowski remains a member of the Senate's Republican leadership, serving as Senate Republican Conference vice chair, but GOP aides said they assume she will give up that job.
"It's hard to be vice chair if you are running against the Republican nominee," said one staffer.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) on Monday said he had begun seeking support from colleagues to replace Murkowski as SRC vice chair.
The NRSC has said it will back Miller, even though Murkowski is a member of Senate GOP leadership. NRSC communications director Brian Walsh referred inquiries to a statement the committee released last night and refused to elaborate further.
Give it up already. I am so tired of these sore losers. Just goes to show they are not willing to accept defeat.
Strange decision. I think she may have handed the election to Miller. Let's she has, at best, a 40% chance of winning this fall, only to return to DC without seniority. On the other hand, she could wait 4 years and be the favorite against Begich.
Go Lisa as Miller is neitehr qualified not fit to serve as US Senator. The election was manipulated both by Zig Palin and outside PACS! Those that complain against her are asses as she has every right to run as a write-in. Miller and Palin are sweating bullets as they know Miller does NOT have a chance to win. Anyone that votes for Miller needs their head examined as it is pure insanity to support someone like Miller or Palin for that matter!
Is there anything worse than a sore loser?
She has virtually no prayer of winning by being written in on ballots. And I suspect she knows that. So the only explanation for this is that she really, really doesn't want Miller to win the election.
Just how sour are those grapes?
Miller will destroy her, no Republican will vote for her. Did she not learn from Charlie Crist?
This proves that Murkowski only wants to hold on to power. It also proves that she doesn't deserve to represent the party. I hope she gets trounced by Miller and goes out with a whimper. When you lose fair and square, be graceful, accept it, and come back to fight another day. The voters of her own party rejected her. Move on. Classless and self-serving!
Another Progressive who can't stand to bite the dust. Give it up already. The voters have spoken
Sour grapes; the end of her career.
If there are any "bitter clingers" out there, it's Lisa Murkowski & Charlie Crist
Joe Miller will still be the next Senator from Alaska.
I pray to the Lord that this does not affect Joe Miller.
Murkowski should be ashamed of herself. This is how Washington has developed such a lousy reputation. This shows that Murkowski's only desire is power and not the people of Alaska. She has no more integrity that Governor Crist. Shame on these RINO's!
Miller is neither qualified nor fit? Huh?
BA in Political Science from West Point.
Bronze Star in First Gulf War.
JD from Yale.
MA in Economics from Univ. of Alaska.
State court judge.
Federal court magistrate judge.
He's remarkably well qualified.
Behavior such as this is so much like a spoiled kid who somehow believes that they are entitled to something special beyond just a fair chance. She had her chance and is showing why term limits should maybe be pursued. Actually elections are pretty good substitutes but those do not seem very popular in the case of an elite when she/he loses something they consider their birthright. Give it up, Lisa. I think Mr Miller will do just fine but it would be easier if Lisa just understood that no means no.
Murkowski may be able to get a few nites sleeping with Charlie Christ on the few nites he has available. It will probably be hard to get an appointment. After all he has to accommodate and save a few nites sleeping with his phony wife and a few nites sleeping with his gay lover and an occassional sleep night with Barack Obama!
Good Luck Lisa, Charlie is busy!
Both Crist and Murkowski are dopes. They are destroying any future for themselves. Neither is going to win. All they had to do was wait for the next election for the Senate. In Alaska its four years, and an easy win for a Republican.
The Tea Party is just showing how much American people hate Washington.
Crist has always been a RINO, but Murkowski had a future. I just don't get these people. They are punch drunk on their self-importance.
We never really understood just how corrupt our system is until the Tea Party. I dearly hope the citizens of Alaska treat Murkowski exactly how all spoiled brats and turncoats should be treated, basically just as the citizens of FL are treating Crist. These people are simply pathetic, self-indulgent losers as people.
Thank goodness the Tea Party is routing out these self-centered "public servants". If the good of the country and her constituents were truly her concern she'd nod to the will of the people. Same with Charlie Crist. It's too bad because I actually didn't dislike either Crist or Murkowski before they showed themselves to be so delusional about their entitlements to elected office. Goes to show I give professional politicians the benefit of the doubt too often.
GO! Lisa, GO! She has a right to run and will probably win.
She's just torked a huge number of conservatives off in a red state. I didn't vote for her this time around because of her RINO record and will do everything in my power to help expose her record! Princess Murkowski has just shown that she doesn't have an ounce of integrity, but that she does have a hugely bloated ego.
Murkowski promised to respect the primary results and she LIED! The Liberals in Alaska are rooting for her, because they know she's a closet liberal and their guy McAdams will never win here.
Could it be that they have a globalist agenda like so much of the establishment and would rather a dem win to assure that the agenda happens than someone who wants to keep America sovereign?
I guess Sen. Murkowski is afraid of losing her job and going to work for McDonalds and getting her hands dirty.
Isn't it obvious that this is personal? Murkowski resents the Palin-backed Miller success in the primary (to say nothing of Palin's success in ousting her dad from the governorship) and is out to deny Palin's surrogate the Senate seat. I doubt Murkowski can pull off what Lieberman did in Connecticut after the left wing of his party put another guy on the ballot as the Democratic candidate, but it's possible more than spite is behind her decision.
I doubt her willingness to take on the Republican Party in Alaska is based on principals, however. Sarah Palin defined herself as a rebel when she brought down Murkowski's dad in the primary for the governorship. Why shouldn't Murkowski wear the same costume?
Most here see what this is: It's spoiled brat Lisa, who has no chance of winning as a write in, doing all in what little power she left to see that the Republican nominee Miller, who beat her fair and square, does not win the election by syphoning off enough republican votes which she hopes will hand the victory to the democrat McAdams.
My question is: where are the GOP establish figures and know-it-all pundits ranting against poor lil' crybaby Lisa; the same types who caterwalled endlessly against the conservative voters of DE who dared to make their own selection of an 'unelectable' and 'flawed' candidate over the party selected, sure thing RINO.
She said "I'll back the nominee, "whoever" wins".
Hum, I guess "whoever" must not have won, right?
She is disgracing herself, her family, her state, and her party.
But she's thrilling the Dems.
Maybe that's her plan. Check her recent phone log, it may have some insider White House numbers on it.
If she couldn't even win the nomination, how the hell does this moron think she's going to win with a freaking write-in campaign while splitting the vote with the republican who one the primary?
Her analogy is flawed. This is like playing poker and being dealt two Pokemon cards. You're only going to win if all of the other players mistake your Pikachus for aces.
Well,this Alaskan will be writing in Lisa Murkowski. With support from the sane Republicans, Independents, and a few Democrats she has a real chance to win. Remember, the Alaskan Republican primary was a closed primary. Only Republicans were allowed to vote for the Republican candidate.
Throw in the Independents and Democrats who are satisfied with her and she will split the vote and win.
Talk about elitist, ruling class attitudes. This is what happens when you're a spoiled brat. The Republican Party was good enuf for Lisa to use when it go her into power but now, apparently, she has no use for it.
How utterly devoid of morals and scruples.
I guess Lisa expected Daddy to come along and make it all right like he did when he appointed his daughter to this seat.
This is disgusting, elitist, "it's my seat, not the people's seat" ruling class politics at it's worst.
I smell sour grapes!
Looks like Senator Murkowski has all the Miller fans all freaked out.
I think I'll make some popcorn this could be good!
What a horrible woman this Murkowski woman must be.
I don't believe that the Republican Party has really coalesced around what the Party really stands for yet nor has it found its true identity. Until that is said and done, anybody who wishes to stake a claim of the Republican mantle may be premature. For Murkowski to run as an independent, write-in would appear to fit just as well in that category since there may still a majority of the Alaskan population who have yet to make up their minds as to what being Democratic, Republican, and Independent really means to them. At least Alaskans will have three choices this fall to decide what policies they would like to see back in Washington D.C. Perhaps what being "Republican" meant before has changed so much that it's really not a "Republican" Alaskans will be voting for.
Lisa Murkowski's press conference announcing her write-in candidacy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOLypkY8LMc
One other thing: It's seems perfectly clear that Sarah Palin had the Murkowski clan accurately pegged. They apparently looked at public office as a personal claim to power and not as a limited mandate issued by the public to impliment their will. Two-bit, tinhorn power brokers is a description that comes to mind.
Since resigning as AK Governor, Ms Palin has been wielding a powerful sword of rightousness against the evil and corrupt in our political system in whatever party they happen to reside, all the while neutralizing the Media's efforts to stop her.
She may be our John Connor (of Terminator fame) teaching us how and who to fight, while bringing our constitutional republic, together with its liberties, back from the brink of being lost forever.
Good for Murkowski. Someone asked "Is there anything worse than a sore loser?" Absolutely!! Joe Miller as an Alaskan senator is worse. Without Murkowski, who ranks fairly high in the Republican Party, Alaska will be represented by 2 freshmen senators, one that wants to have his photo taken by the media everytime he has an opportunity, the other wants to make sure that no more Federal money comes to Alaska. Neither of the 2 freshmen senators are going to work together to accomplish anything for the state. Miller is supported by Palin, "the quitter". Who knows, Miller may quit half way through his term as well, with his mentor and friend Palin backing him.
Go Lisa! Split the republican vote for us so McAdams can win, that would make me really, really happy!
I'm so glad she's going to do this. Instead of Joe Miller, a far-righto who wants to kill Social Security, which millions of Americans paid into and will be the only thing keeping them afloat, Lisa Murkowski is a sane conservative who wants to advance a mainstream agenda. Run, Lisa, run, because you're the one!
Make sure you send money to Miller and beat back this RINO.
So what state or country do you think the Murkowski clan will re-locate to? Come January they'll hold no office but will have made enemies of about everyone in Alaska that does. Run Lisa Run, far far away. Good riddance.
I love it when they eat themselves.
Daddy gave me this job and its mine! How dare this guy try to take what is mine!!!
She is a loser! Lisa Murkowski need to learn how to accepted that she has lost the primary election. The Tea Party are trying to rid of these Rinos so the Republican can be the conservative party. We can't have the same member of a family run for office. We wanted to see new faces in Washington. It is time for the Democratic and Republican Rinos to retire and go home. I can't wait to hear what Sarah Palin have to say about this. Murkowski is going to lose again on Nov. 2.
Not that I like him, but Lieberman ran as an independent when he lost the Democratic primary and won the general election, though I don't think he had to do it as write-in candidate. She might just win then.
These Tea Party candidates are for the most part ignorant and idiotic and selfish. Miller wants to do away with Social Security and, I think, Medicare. Since some 90% (or more)of Americans don't earn enough during their working lives to survive without Social Security and Medicare when they retire, he would be condemning millions of Americans to a life of poverty when they retire.
The Tea Party members are wealthier than most, but even so most of them couldn't retire comfortably without Social Security and Medicare.
The income of the middle-class and working-class has, allowing for inflation, remained stagnant or declined for the last 40 years (except during the nineties when it rose--as did everyone's income), so I don't see that changing anytime soon.
That means both Social Security and Medicare will be critical to the well-being of all middle-class Americans for decades, or more, to come. And that means the Tea Party candidates are, whether most American know it or not, very out of touch with most Americans--far more out of touch than the Democratic politicians they love to hate.
Lisa totally stands for Alaskans. Born and raised. Values education and represented AK and her party well in DC.
Not accent. No history elsewhere. She knows our state and its' people. Joe Miller..15 years here?? Sheesh!!! He likes to fish and hunt. Whooopeeee!!! Palin, who graduated with a barely a passing grade in poli sci in Idaho community college??? Skipped class a lot. GREAT knowledgeable reference!!!
YOu don't have to be a repub to vote for Lisa. She stands up for our state's issues, education, Native education, and listens. Her staff in DC are honorable, and work their tails off for our state--coming from a dem living in DC...
TEA= Those Extremist A------s. Go Lisa, Go Charlie!
Lisa Murkowski’s no Crist, lest anybody think that-
He is at least a talented campaigner/politician/snake who’s actually got his name on the ballot- and started his independent candidacy with a big lead, NONE of which are the case with Murkowski
Now Joe Miller can whip two libs instead of one, as Palin said about Murkowski’s decision yesterday "It’s all good".
Even Orange Charlie is getting creamed by double digits in the latest poll, so far Rubio had no problem facing two boneheads that support the Obama agenda AT ALL
Miller won’t either, imo
So what half these comments are saying is that a citizen doesn't have the right to run for an office if a tea party candidate is running!?!?!?!? TP wants USSA to go from a 2 party system to a one party system where they run a candidate, otherwise they want an open system and the end of the two party system. Gee.... just like Hitler. And Fidel. Tea Party will do whatever it thinks will get them into their deserved office. Tea Party seems to think they deserve the office, they are entitled to the office.... and want no citizen competition. Seig Heil, mein TP!
JESUS CHRIST WAS THE SON OF THE DEVIL
I guarantee she'll win. The Tea Bagger doesn't stand a chance and Alaska won't vote for someone liberal. Murkowski is in the middle and relatively popular. She'll win and the Tea Baggers will get their ass*s kicked again :)
WhoDat said:
Miller is neither qualified nor fit? Huh?
BA in Political Science from West Point.
Bronze Star in First Gulf War.
JD from Yale.
MA in Economics from Univ. of Alaska.
State court judge.
Federal court magistrate judge.
He's remarkably well qualified.
Obviously he is an elitist with those qualifications. Not good for this country at all.
The real interesting question in this entire story is whether the woman whom said she would support the Republican nominee, and said she is "One Republican woman who will not quit Alaska," will relocate to Maryland or Virginia after her second consecutive humilating defeat.
see you next tuesday!
Sure she promised to support the primary winner and not do this, but who cares?
She's a special little snowflake that "the people" can't possibly do without. She MUST run regardless of primary outcome.
In fact if she loses the general, I expect to see her go to D.C. to claim her Senate Seat anyhow. Who cares about voters, she's a crucial narcissistic self-absorbed person who deserves a senate seat regardless of what "the people" say.
Isn't a liar who has a strong sense of self-entitlement and a narcissistic streak the sort of person you want representing you?
If Miller is elected, how will you alaskans get along without all those federal tax dollars coming to your state? Out of all 50 states, alaska most deserves the title of "welfare queen".
but hey, it's no skin off my butt if you want to throw it all away.