Defeated Alaska Senator to Run Write-In Campaign

Defeated Alaska Senator to Run Write-In Campaign
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Copyright by The Associated Press
Published: September 17, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/politics/18murkowski.html?th&emc=th


Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who lost her state’s Republican primary last month to a Tea-Party-backed conservative, announced late Friday that she will run as a write-in candidate in the general election.

“I announce today that I will be a write-in candidate in November for the United States Senate seat that I now hold,” Ms. Murkowski told a loud crowd of supporters in Anchorage, who cheered “Run, Lisa, run!”

The senator’s unusually worded declaration reflected the startling turn of events in Alaska over the past few weeks. Ms. Murkowski was defeated in the Aug. 24 Republican primary by Joe Miller, a previously unknown lawyer from Fairbanks who benefited from a late surge of support and spending by the Tea Party Express and the endorsement of Sarah Palin. Mr. Miller, who has proposed stark cuts in federal spending, defeated Ms. Murkowski by about 2,000 votes out of about 100,000 cast.

Ms. Murkowski was widely criticized for running a weak campaign and not responding aggressively to Mr. Miller’s attacks, some of which distorted her record. She suggested on Friday that the six-week sprint to Election Day would be far different.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, “the gloves are off — for Alaska.”

Yet the senator acknowledged that the write-in campaign faced high hurdles, including the challenge of making sure voters are able to spell her last name and the recent embrace of Mr. Miller by top Republican leaders in Washington.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, issued a statement late Friday saying Ms. Murkowski “no longer has my support for serving in any leadership roles, and I have accepted her letter of resignation from Senate leadership.”

Sarah Palin, speaking briefly to reporters after delivering a speech in Iowa on Friday, said the write-in campaign was “a futile effort on her part. It really is.”

Ms. Murkowski, whose relationship with Ms. Palin has long been strained, alluded to those comments in her remarks late Friday, then referred obliquely to Ms. Palin’s resignation from the governor’s office in July 2009.

The senator said that she, unlike Ms. Palin, was “one Republican woman who won’t quit on Alaska.”

A Democrat, Scott McAdams, the mayor of Sitka, is also in the race.