Lisa Murkowski wins Alaska Senate seat in write-in campaign

2010-11-18 05:33:30 GMT+7 (ICT)

JUNEAU, ALASKA (BNO NEWS) -- Lisa Murkowski on Wednesday won the Alaska Senate seat and became the first candidate in over fifty years to win a Senate seat in a write-in campaign.

Murkowski defeated Joe Miller, her tea-party rival, after a two week-long count of hand-written votes. Murkowski has a lead of about 10,000 votes with only 700 votes left to count. Miller's observers challenged 8,153 ballots over misspellings, extra words or legibility issues.

Miller won by a wide margin in the GOP primary which prompted Murkowski to run as a write-in. Murkowsky is reportedly flying back to Alaska to address her supporters after what she called an historic victory.

Murkowski ran as a write-in after saying she was encouraged by Alaskans who wanted a reasonable alternative between the conservative Miller and the Democratic candidate. The last Senate candidate to win as a write-in was Strom Thurmond in 1954.

Miller and his advisers have vowed to take legal action over what they believe was an unfair tally in Murkowski’s favor. However, he said that if the math is not in his favor, he will stop challenging the results.

Murkowski’s victory is a major blow for Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate who backed Miller as well as the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The new Alaska Senator said that she plans to caucus with the Republicans but added that she will not be beholden to any special interests or party, a probable sign that she may not try to reclaim her leadership post within the GOP conference. She voluntarily resigned in order to engage in her write-in campaign.

The victory of Murkowski featured an unique process unlike any Alaska had seen. Observers scrutinized the handwriting of thousands of ballots during the long process of vote counting. The rules for conducting the election were written as the race went on.

Murkowski, 53, was appointed to the Senate seat long held by her father when he became governor in 2002. She won the seat in her own right two years later, in a narrow win over Democrat Tony Knowles. Her father was defeated in the 2006 gubernatorial primary by Palin, contributing to the tense relationship between the two families.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-11-18

Big slap in the face to Sarah Palin and her Tea Party fans.

Hopefully, it will clue her in that running for President is going to hurt the U.S. a lot more than it will help (anyone other than Obama).