The Sarah Palin touch might have been just what vaulted upstart Joe Miller in her home state of Alaska to a possible upset of incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski, toppling her from the U.S. Senate.
Emphasize the “apparent,” because the final results may not be known for more than a week, as 16,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted.
With nearly 100 percent of the precincts counted, Murkowski trailed Miller by 1,960 votes out of more than 91,000 counted, the Associated Press is reporting.
And the Tea Party Express-backed Miller credits the former Alaska governor’s endorsement for his unlikely apparent victory, telling The Anchorage Daily News: “I'm absolutely certain that was pivotal.”
The AP noted that intraparty feuding has marked the campaign “in a surprisingly tight race that was seen as a test of the political power of Sarah Palin and the tea party movement . . . Miller is a decorated Gulf War veteran backed by Palin and the Tea Party Express who sought to cast Murkowski as being too liberal and part of the problem in an out-of-control Washington. It is a campaign strategy that has helped oust other incumbents this year.”
Roll Call notes the incumbents’ toll at the polls, reporting that “Murkowski is in danger of becoming the seventh Member of Congress to lose a primary this year.”
The first hand count will be taken Aug. 31.
The Murkowski camp acknowledges the dire straits. “We knew the race was going to be tight. The rural areas have yet to come in and we know Sen. Murkowski is going to be very strong in the rural areas,” the Daily News quoted Murkowski spokesman Steve Wackowski as saying.
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