Lisa the Loser vs. Joe Miller, RINO Killer UPDATE: Now 23,000 Ballots Still Out, Count Won’t End Until . . . Sept. 8? UPDATE: Palin Predicts Miller Win
Posted on | August 28, 2010 | 25 Comments
When last we left the sordid Senate saga in Alaska, the NRSC had flown its top lawyer to Anchorage to help Sen. Lisa Murkowski try to steal the election from Joe Miller. According to the No. 2 official in the Alaska LP, it’s highly unlikely Lisa the Loser could get the Libertarian nomination.
If she can’t gin up enough phony absentee ballots to overturn Miller’s 1,668-vote margin of victory in Tuesday’s GOP primary, she’s on her way to being an ex-Senator, and so now Lisa the Loser is on the attack:
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) pushed back against her Republican opponent Joe Miller on Friday, calling him “paranoid” for suggesting that she is conspiring with her legal team to steal victory in Tuesday’s primary.
Miller holds a narrow lead over the incumbent Murkowski, who has vowed not to concede until all 20,000 absentee ballots have been counted . . .
“To suggest that the NRSC has sent an attorney to Alaska to skew results is paranoid,” Murkowski said.
OK, to start with, it was originally estimated that there were 8,000 absentee ballots to be counted. Now suddenly we are told it’s 20,000? But never mind that. If Murkowski is so doggone confident of victory, why did she demand that the NRSC send its general counsel to Alaska? She’s sitting on more than $1 million in leftover campaign cash. Can’t she pay for her own lawyers?
Now let’s address Murkowski’s accusation that Miller is “paranoid.” This afternoon, I spoke by phone to a Miller campaign volunteer who lives near Fairbanks and who described the harassment he’s received from Murkowski supporters.
“I’m getting tons of crank calls — you wouldn’t believe it,” said the volunteer, who explained that some anti-Miller activists had targeted him due to his online work for the campaign. Murkowski supporters in his community, however, had learned of his pro-Miller stance directly.
“I’ve lost a lot of [Republican] friends who turned out to be closet liberals . . . RINOs,” he said, describing one friend’s reaction as “Oh my God, you’re a f***ing bagger” — i.e., a “teabagger,” the Left’s preferred epithet for Tea Party activists.
As to the Team Joe strategy for the absentee ballot count, the volunteer said, “I leave that to the legal eagles,” noting that Miller is a lawyer (J.D., Yale Law) and that campaign manager Robert Campbell is also a lawyer.
We are grateful to King Shamus for this photo:
UPDATE: I don’t understand this heavy-duty analysis at Swing State Project, but it suggests that the absentee and provisional ballots are likely to favor Miller.
UPDATE II: The Associated Press says it’s 23,000 ballots:
Republican challenger Joe Miller holds a narrow lead over incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska’s GOP Senate race, which remains too close to call with more 23,000 absentee, questioned and early ballots not yet counted.
State elections workers will begin to count absentee ballots Tuesday. Division of Elections officials estimated 16,000 absentee ballots were sent out before the election. Ballots mailed from within the United States must arrive by Sept. 3 to be valid. Ballots mailed internationally must arrive before Sept. 8.
The ballots to be counted include almost 9,000 questioned ballots flagged by Division of Elections officials because the voter’s intent might not be clear. Another 663 votes were cast during the “early voting” process on Election Day and await counting.
OK, so the count won’t be officially finished until at least a week from Wednesday, with lots of opportunity for shenanigans. I gotta be there.
UPDATE III: From Robert Costa at National Review:


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