Did anyone catch the Fox News discussion in the last hour along the lines that Republican leaders in Alaska have “given up” on Joe Miller?
I think the fix from RINOland is in big time for Murkowski.
Pennsylvania’s former Senator Rick Santorum, who supported Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in 2004 and flew to Alaska later that year to twist pro-life arms for Murkowski, has commented on the situation.
Santorum, speaking as a Fox News commentator, said that Murkowski will vote with Republicans so its OK if she wins.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is pushing back against reports today that they’ve pulled away from Joe Miller in Alaska. AN NRSC e-mail just went out with the following statement from Rob Jesmer, the NRSC’s executive director: “While I’m sure ABC News enjoyed leading Politico’s Playbook this morning, it might have been more useful if they had actually taken a moment to contact the NRSC before running this inaccurate story. Joe Miller not only has the full support of the NRSC, but he’s actually featured prominently in our TV ad which is running still today statewide in Alaska.”http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/251619/nrsc-joe-miller-kathryn-jean-lopezNRSC communications director Brian Walsh also points to their boss, Senator John Cornyn, on This Week this morning:
· AMANPOUR: “Let me ask you about Joe Miller in Alaska – our Jon Karl, political correspondent, is saying the GOP is basically giving up on Joe Miller or thinking he’s not going to win.”
SEN. CORNYN: “That’s not the case – what we have done, we are supporting the nominee of our party which is Mr. Miller.”I suspect if he sounded a little more like Sarah Palin on Fox, he could have put this storyline to bed.
“I think the fix from RINOland is in big time for Murkowski.”
Step back and try to view this race in perspective. First of all, no one is going to lose a primary and then win as a WRITE-IN. The write-in couldn’t succeed at this even if there was no one else on the ballot. MacAdams is on the ballot and even if she were beloved by every non-Miller Voter (assuming that is a majority) the two of them would split that vote, with McAdams getting most of it just becasue it is so much easier to vote for someone rather than go through the cumbersome write-in process.
Second, the is a big REPUBLICAN year. Republicanism, and especially conservative turnout, is going to be huge. It is also a be ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT year. Lisa Murkowski is neither a conservative nor is she anti-establishment. This would be a bad year for her and a very difficult election IF SHE WERE ON THE BALLOT. As a write-in, she has no shot. People who are pretending she has a chance are either stupid (the GOP Establishment fall in this category; after all, they don’t call it the “stupid party” for nothing) or they are trying to sell newspapers (the LSM falls in this category).
Third, if Lisa were on the ballot, she would still lose, as she did in the GOP primary. She is a TERRIBLE candidate. And don’t tell me she is polling ahead. She was polling (same polls) even further ahead in the primary (32-39 points) and lost ALTHOUGH HER NAME WAS ON THE BALLOT and she had the establishment’s support.
I hate to even spend time on Joe Miller because he is a sure winner, but I think some perspective is necessary. Murkowski cannot win. Period.
I wouldn’t be devoting resources, at least not much, to Alaska, because Miller will win this by a couple of touchdowns. The money and the resources and the focus should be on Delaware. That is where the biog upset is brewing.