Another One Bites the Dust – Murkowski Concedes
By Rod Pennington
Voters fired another shot across the bow of entrenched “business as usual” Washington elites. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has conceded to insurgent candidate Joe Miller in the Alaskan Republican Senatorial primary. Where political connects are usually an asset, in this race it may have been a liability. Murkowski inherited her senate seat from her daddy who appointed her to complete his term after he was elected governor. This created such a furor in Alaska voters passed a referendum striping the governor of the power to appoint a senatorial replacement.
Murkowski should have seen this coming. She was elected to a full term in 2004 but with less than 50% of the vote. Some of her votes in Washington and big spending ways did not sit well with her constituents. After high profile primary loses by Sen. Arlen Specter (R/D –PA) and Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT), this is not the year to be seen as “Washington Insider.” Confident that the great unwashed masses when be grateful for the opportunity to cast their ballots for someone with her connections and lineage, Murkowski sat on several million dollars in campaign cash during the primary. Big Mistake.
About a week before the primary, Sarah Palin unloaded on her old rival Murkowski with both barrels. Not only did the wildly popular former governor endorse unknown Yale educated lawyer Joe Miller, she also cut a “robo-call” ad for him. There has never been any love loss between Palin and Sen. Murkowski. Palin had swatted aside her father, Frank Murkowski, in the Republican governor’s primary in 2004. The sitting Governor mustered only a pitiful 19% of the vote against Palin.
Palin, the belle of the ball for the “Tea Party” movement, has another surprise marquee win for a candidate she has endorsed. Much like Ronald Reagan before her, she is despised and denigrated by the mainstream media. Despite this, or maybe because of it, Sarah Palin has become a force in American Politics. Her endorsement turned governor’s primaries in South Carolina and Florida. Unlike Pres. Obama where Democrats are running for cover whenever he is in their town, Palin draws crowds, cash and enthusiasm.
To Sen. Murkowski’s credit, unlike other huge ego politicians with an ingrained sense of entitlement who have lost primaries, she decided not to fight the will of the people. Still young at only 53, this touch of class will keep her options open for a possible 2014 challenge to Alaska’s other senator, Democrat Mark Begich. Riding the “Obama wave” and running against Sen. Ted Stevens who had recent been convicted on corruption charges, Begich won by less than 4,000 votes. He will easily be the Democratic Senator with the biggest bull’s eye on his back in four years.
Miller will face Democrat Scott McAdams, who is the mayor of Sitka, in November.
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Posted by The Editors
on Sep 1 2010. Filed under Featured Stories.
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