Murkowski to Mount Write-In Candidacy?
Lisa Murkowski — it’s not a name that exactly rolls off the lips, is it? And it’s not a name that rings for a major cause or an identifiable issue or … anything. It’s a name that rings for Lisa Murkowski, and really nothing else. Well, I guess it rings for “establishment,” but that’s not something that lights anyone’s candle.
Except that now, after she has been rejected by the Republican primary voters in Alaska who wanted Joe Miller, a conservative who actually knows what the word means and embraces it, and after the Libertarian Party gave her the back of their principled hand, Lisa Murkowski is a name that may earn a bit of infamy. She may mount a spoiler write-in candidacy for Alaska’s Senate race. It’s as if, having been denied the seat to which she obviously feels entitled, Murkowski will do whatever she can to make sure that no one else can have the seat either. As Stacy McCain eloquently asks:
How long before Murky keys somebody’s car in the parking lot?
Well, I’d say a little over 50 days, more or less.
We had something similarly psychotic threaten to rip up the Republican Party here in Texas around primary time back in March, with a candidate who was so sure of her vision and genius that, having lost the gubernatorial primary, she promptly went to work threatening to sue the party over trivial nonsense (again), and is to this day still raising money for some future Quixotic run for glory. That candidate wasn’t establishment by any means, but the petulance is the same. Some folks just plug their ears when the voters speak. One such folk currently occupies the White House.
I’m not talking about him “like a dog,” by the way. Dogs actually listen, for one thing. But I digress.
I guess Bryan does not beleive in democracy. Maybe each tea party vote should count twice. What a whiner!
There is so much crap in politics it’s disgusting.
Don’t run because you know you can do a good job for the country, lets run because we’re a whiny ass creep that has a hard on because they lost .
The people of Alaska spoke. Palin was only one vote. It’s called democracy. Democracy..a word California needs to learn.
Bryan Preston is right twice…above and in comment #3 below.
Excuse me?
Murkowski lost the nomination fair and square. She conceded on her own.
If that’s not democracy, I guess you believe in the Ankh-Morpork* version of democracy, which the Chicago Way is modeled on. In Ankh-Morpork, they believe in one man, one vote. The Patrician (ruler) is the man, he has the vote.
*See Terry Brooks’ hilarious Discworld series of parody books for more about Ankh-Morpork.
Oops, I meant Terry Pratchett above… Terry Brooks is a completely different author. Mea Culpa
Hey Shadow- How many years has it been, and you clowns are still whining about Bush v Gore. You have some nerve questioning Conservatives on Democracy. If liberals lose a vote, they just go to some lib judge to get the “people’s” wishes overturned.
If Lisa M runs as a write in and wins, I think that qualifies as the voice of the people. Or would you rather have the GOVERNMENT forbid her from running? You would think you wingnuts would have more confidence that your candidate could convince the majority. Sounds more like you know you know that a more mainstream candidate will appeal to the majority and you do not like that. Whine on!
that would be believe, liberal education?
She wouldn’t be kicking this around if she didn’t have polling info that made it a possibility to win.
But the bottom line is she is trying to win the battle against Sarah Palin. Lisa M keeps repeating “I’m not a quitter”, and that is no accident. She’s trying to insult Sarah.
I have no doubt she hates Sarah for ending her father’s career, and especially now, as Palin seems to have helped end HER career. Poison to two generations of Murks. And she’s a size 2, DAMMMIT!!!
This is bad. Republicans are now fighting tooth and nail, over the counter and under it, snide remarks, noses in the air, going all Thurston Howell the Third on the conservative redneck red state evangelical lower middle class flyover American.
It would not at all surprise me to see the RNC break its own word and pull out of the Miller campaign to support Murkowski.
Shadow, you make no sense. The people spoke and Murkowski lost.
Hopefully Miller will beat Scott McAdams.
If Lisa does do a write in, I hope she loses big time.
Its wrong, you get beat so you change party to run again for that same seat..wrongwrongwrong!!! She will just end up getting Scott elected by splitting the vote
No the people did not speak, the majority in one party spoke and now you are wetting your pants that your candidate will loose. Grow up!
I’m sure this is exactly how you viewed Joe Lieberman during his end-run of the senate seat he lost in the primary – only to be re-elected in the general election.
Face it – Joe’s end run was about as popular with democrats as Murkowski’s will be with republicans should she run as an independent (see Crist). That doesn’t stop republicans from complaining about it – just like democrats belly-ached about Joe’s end-run. Joe ended up being popular with the voters – but in a state rife with liberal ‘thinkers’. Alaska is much more conservative – all Murkowski could hope to do is stick it to the republican candidate that screwed her (in her mind) out of her rightful place – it’s quite doubtful she could win and she likely knows this.
Actually, the majority in both major parties spoke and now there are two major-party candidates. I think you’re being the teeniest bit disingenuous to pretend that having two “Republicans” running against one Democrat is just democracy’s finest hour.
Of COURSE you’re hoping the vote will be split and the Dem will win by a hair, but don’t pretend you’re more principled than the average Democrat, merely cheering democracy on — ha!
These politicians are like addicts. They would sell their body, their dignity, their soul just to be back in a position of power over the rest of their fellow citizens. She’s so far gone, she doesn’t see how she’s humiliating herself by this unseemly behavior. Lisa is a disgrace.
Alaskan voters are now being told their wishes are meaningless, sounds like a Democrat to me.
OK tell me how Alaska voters are being told their votes don’t count? Say Lisa runs as a write in candidate. How does that disenfranchise any Alaska voter? Sounds like you are worried because you candidate will have a hard time competting agianst her!
Alaska’s Republican primary voters are being told their votes are meaningless. Clearly you agree.
No question, Murkowski is a looser on several fronts. Worst of all, she puts her vanity above the welfare of our nation. She is well aware that Obama can complete the destruction of our constitutional republic in two years if Republicans fail to acquire control of both houses of Congress.
It may not be vanity, but desperation. After all, the economy sucks. She’s gonna need a job.
It’s not like she has real, marketable skills. Same with Crist, perchance. They are professional politicians. As long they hold office, or are campaigning for one, they draw a salary.
The world outside the sinecure of politics is awful big and scary.
BINGO!!!
It just goes to show what is wrong with politics as a career and the “two party” system. These hypocrites support the party only as long as it serves their interests.
Murk is saying, if i can’t have this job i deserve then i will see that
Joe Miller want get it either…This is a bulley’s way of thinking and
a proven way to snatch victory away from the very people who at one time
had a little confidence in a person….
Murk Ms. Palin is not your enemy, you are…..
Technicality as it is, we are not a democracy! We are a representative constitutional republic. Take a few moments, recite The Pledge of Alligence, the key phrase is ……….”and to the republic for which it stands.” One more time the democrats have compromised original intentions to favor them, by calling us a democracy it plays well for a party calling itself the democratic party. Democracy was born in 500BC with the Greeks, every Greek has a vote, when votes were counted whom ever had the largest number won. Majority rule, isn’t what the Founder had in mind, that is why they established a representative republic, to insure that mob rule would not be the way.
You are confusing two differnt things. We have a representative democracy, but every vote counts in an election. The representative part comes in because we do not vote on laws but have representives do that for us. We are a representative democracy. Unfortunately for you the majority gets its way through our elected representatives. Democrats and Obama won – you lost. They got to pass the policies. Now the republicans have a chance to change.
Tell us more, Mr. Civics!
Seems like a few here have forgotten their civics lessons. Maybe you could straighten them out!
Why doesn’t Lisa Murkowski go campaign for Senator John McCain? Power hungry silver spoon elitist snob who can’t take “NO” for an answer; she lost her primary. Lisa Murkowski is just Charlie Crist with a wig.
AK a long time ago decided to have closed primaries with the general being the one chosen by the parties primary voters. It tends to provide candidates that represent the parties values. Certainly better than caucuses where it represents the party elites values.
WA had open primaries that you could vote Dem one office, then R the next. There was a lot of shenanigans with voter crossover to get the weaker candidate to oppose in Nov. Now we have a top 2, only 2 candidates in a runoff in Nov. So AK would be Miller v Murkowski. At least it gives “The Entitled One” to realize that they are in a real race.
Lisa should quietly bow out and run again in a few years for a different office.
Lisa will make her life murkier if she tries any sort of write in. Her fate was written at the primary. For her the best choice is keep away from politics for the timebeing and support the Republican candidate Miller.
Murky is coming across as a petulant foot-stomper, enraged that her “entitlement” has been removed in an actual election with voters casting actual votes.
How dare they !
At last report, Marco Rubio is shellacking the equally petulant and entitled Charlie Crist.
Let’s hope the voters in Alaska are similarly galvanized.
Interestingly enough there are two schools of thought: Murwhoski runs as a write in. She looses. Or She runs as a write in,the entirety of the democratic party abandons their candidate, joins the write in campaign and she could conceivably win. She returns to Washington with most of her pride intact have put down a rebellion. The national republicans make nice, offer her the head of Sarah Palin if she only returns to the fold.
The state republican party in Alaska is weak and ineffectual. Until now they haven’t needed to to be any thing other that nominal heads of the easiest job in politics. They pretend that they are important and dutifully respond when Murwhoski calls.
It is hard to know what the outcome will be. Murkowski has the money and the ego. She could sit this one out and go after Baggage in 2014 but I am going to bet that she goes for broke and runs a write in campaign. It will likely boil down to ballot counting at the bitter end. Write-ins are harder to grade. Given the propensity for judicial meddling I suspect that anything close will count to Murkowski.