Alaska Certifies Murkowski's Win for Senate

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The state of Alaska certified Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski's victory over Tea Party favorite Joe Miller Thursday, nearly three months after she won the race with an unconventional write-in campaign.

"It's been certified. The governor signed the certificate and the lieutenant governor notarized it," said a spokeswoman for Alaska Governor Sean Parnell.

Murkowski beat Miller in the Nov. 2 congressional election by 10,252 votes, about 4.5 percent of the total cast.

Miller, an attorney who has never held elected office, then filed lawsuits in state and federal court seeking to overturn the results by throwing out ballots with misspellings or handwriting flaws.

An Alaska Superior Court judge, the state Supreme Court and a U.S. District Court judge all found the lawsuit was without merit and that the state had counted ballots correctly.

"It feels great to have finality and for Senator Murkowski to officially be declared the winner of the election," Murkowski's campaign manager, Kevin Sweeney, said in a statement.

Murkowski lost the state Republican primary to Miller, who was endorsed and financially backed by the Tea Party Express and former Governor Sarah Palin.

But Murkowski's write-in campaign won overwhelming support from Alaska Natives, as well as many unions, moderates and Democrats.

The Democrat in the Senate race, former Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams, finished third. (Reporting by Yareth Rosen; editing by Dan Whitcomb and Chris Wilson)