Though the final results of Tuesday’s Alaska Republican Senate Primary is not in, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that incumbent Lisa Murkowski lost to challenger Joe Miller. She would need to win 60% of the absentee ballots that come to surpass Miller and that is not likely to happen.
Don’t worry though, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is sending a lawyer, Sean Cairncross, to provide assistance and counsel to Lisa Murkowski.
I’ve said before, and will reiterate here, groups like the RNC, NRSC, and NRCC should stay out of contested primaries. NRSC has really stepped in it here however. Should Murkowski lose her only option would be to run as a Libertarian. They are the only third party option, and it is too late under Alaska law for her to file as an independent.
To run as a Libertarian (which seems incredibly ridiculous to me since she voted for TARF) she would have to supplant their current candidate, David Haase. Some Alaska Republicans are testing the waters for a third party run by conducting a poll to see how Murkowski would fare. She’s also reportedly offering the Libertarians $1 million from her war chest in exchange for being on their ticket. Perhaps she should have actually used it in her primary race.
You would think that after backing Arlen Specter and Charlie Crist that they would have learned their lesson.