BREAKING: Alaska Libertarian Party Calls Emergency Meeting About Murkowski
Posted on | August 29, 2010 | 71 Comments
Sources in Anchorage inform me that the five-member executive board of the Alaska Libertarian Party will convene in an emergency meeting today to discuss efforts by Lisa Murkowski’s supporters to secure the LP nomination for the Republican senator should she fail to overturn Joe Miller’s 1,668-vote margin in the GOP primary.
Meanwhile, about 5 a.m. ET today, Joe Miller sent a Tweet linking to this story by Sean Cockerham in the Anchorage Daily News:
Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said in an e-mail Saturday that there are many calls going out to Alaskans who voted absentee ballots, asking them who they voted for in the primary. . . .
“I believe, and time will prove it, (the calls) are being done for nefarious purposes,” DeSoto said in the e-mail. “It is definitely not being done by the Joe Miller campaign. It is being done, I believe, by the National Republican Senatorial Committee or someone they contracted with as the beginning of a legal battle to throw out ballots.”
It is public information who requests absentee ballots. Both the Murkowski campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Campaign on Saturday denied making calls to absentee voters.
Yeah, of course they’d deny it. Just like they’d deny harrassing Joe Miller’s volunteers. But there’s more from the ADN story:
NRSC Communications Director Brian Walsh . . . said the single NRSC lawyer sent to Alaska to assist Murkowski with the ballot count, Sean Cairncross, returned to Washington, D.C., on Saturday after 72 hours in the state. “This has been much ado about nothing,” he said.
Wait a minute: How much of its donors’ money did the NRSC spend to send its top lawyer to Alaska for three days? Because I’m planning my own trip to Alaska, I know that flights to Alaska can be very expensive. A short-notice booking for a three-day trip? And I’m betting the NRSC lawyer didn’t fly coach class, either.
UPDATE: Democratic polling firm PPP:
In a three way contest with Murkowski running as the Libertarian candidate Miller leads but with only 38% to 34% for Murkowski and 22% for McAdams.
See, this is how the Palin-hater Andrew Halcro (who is behind the Lisa-for-LP talk) helps out Murkowski, the NRSC and — not coincidentally – Democrats.
Encouraging hope of a Murkowski third-party bid (“She’s still in it! She’s fighting for you!”) prevents Murkowski’s supports from coming to grips with the reality of her defeat, and thus delays efforts by Miller to unite the GOP base and reach out to independent voters. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Murkowski’s people are talking to McAdams about letting her have the Democratic nomination.
As for Andrew Halcro’s scheme, remember that the No. 2 official in the Alaska LP said it’s “99% . . . no way” that the Libertarians would take Murkowski.
UPDATE III: The Alaska LP executive committee meeting lasted more than two hours, but the committee members were sworn to secrecy about the result. A press conference is scheduled Monday in Anchorage — I’ll update with details later — and Alaska LP chairman Scott Kohlhaas could be making an appearance on Fox News.
Meanwhile, Dan Riehl’s Republican sources say that the NRSC is up to shenanigans on Murkowski’s behalf and adds:
Murkowski could still win this election legitimately. But, if she wins it any other way, and especially if the NRSC helps her do it, the DC GOP’s house is going to start burning down before they even gain control of the one on the Hill.

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