Murkowski: We are not done yet"We are in the process of making history," Sen. Murkowski says early WednesdayMurkowski trying to win re-election through write-ins after losing GOP primary in AlaskaWrite-in candidates combined, including Murkowski, held lead early WednesdayMurkowski pitted against Tea Party-backed Joe Miller, Democrat Scott McAdamsWatch CNN live on TV, online and on your iPhone to get all the news and results from the hotly contested 2010 midterm elections. And share your election experiences with CNN iReport.
(CNN) -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski's bid to become only the second person to win a write-in campaign for U.S. Senate appeared on track in Alaska early Wednesday, with write-in candidates leading a Tea Party-backed Republican who beat her in a primary.
But even if the write-ins remained ahead of Republican nominee Joe Miller and Democratic candidate Scott McAdams, the outcome of Alaska's Tuesday general election apparently wouldn't be known for days, because officials need to determine which write-in votes actually went to Murkowski.
"We are in the process of making history," Murkowski, who is seeking a second full term, said early Wednesday.
Although Murkowski told supporters in Anchorage, Alaska, late Tuesday that the outcome wasn't yet known, she was clearly optimistic about her chances.
"They said you can't do it, [that] you can't win a write-in campaign, not in Alaska, not anywhere. They said we can't do it," Murkowski said. "Do they know Alaska?"
With 73 percent of precincts reporting, write-in candidates as a group had 40 percent of the vote, with Miller collecting 35 percent and McAdams 24 percent, according to an unofficial count from The Associated Press.
Alaska had dozens of eligible write-in candidates. Officials didn't plan to read the write-in votes until November 18, in part because they need to wait for mail-in votes, according to the state's election division.
With a victory, Murkowski would avenge her August primary loss to Miller in the latest chapter of a feud between her and his main backers, including the Tea Party Express and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
She told CNN Wednesday morning that, although she wasn't her party's nominee, she intended to caucus with Republicans should she win.
"This is about a can-do people," Murkowski told her supporters late Tuesday. "When they tell us we can't do something, what do we do? We stand up just a little bit straighter, just a little bit taller, and we take it on."
"We're doing it for Alaska, for our kids, for our families, for the people in this state, because this is the right thing to do," she added.
The Tea Party Express, a national Tea Party organization based in Sacramento, California, endorsed Miller earlier this summer and spent nearly $600,000 during the primary campaign to help him defeat Murkowski.
The primary race was so close, with Miller eventually garnering 51 percent, that Murkowski didn't concede until a week after the vote, while absentee ballots were still being counted. She announced a write-in candidacy in September.
Miller backers accused her of going back on her word to support the winner of the GOP primary. Murkowski's campaign took aim at the California-based Tea Party Express, accusing it of trying to meddle in Alaska and steal the seat.
The race also was another entanglement between the Murkowski family and Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee who endorsed Miller.
Murkowski was appointed to her post in 2002 by her father, Frank Murkowski, who had given up the seat to become governor. In 2006, Palin defeated the elder Murkowski in a gubernatorial primary.
Miller, an attorney and former U.S. Army officer, was fighting against controversies in the race's last few weeks, including allegations that he was disciplined years ago for improperly using government computers for private use and then lied about it. Later, Miller's security detail -- two active-duty soldiers hired by a third party working for Miller -- handcuffed a journalist trying to question him. The Army is investigating the soldiers' involvement.
During a debate last month, Murkowski took aim at Miller, a U.S. Military Academy graduate, asking him, "What would your instructors, what would your classmates at West Point say about how well you have lived up to your code of honor?"
At a subsequent rally, Palin came to Miller's defense.
"I find it shameful .. this establishment part politician, shamefully used Joe Miller's honorable military service as a means to attack him," Palin said.
McAdams, the mayor of Sitka, Alaska, was expected to be helped by having Murkowski and Miller share GOP votes, but he always faced long odds in the heavily Republican state.
Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was the first to pull off a write-in election to the Senate, in 1954.CNN's Drew Griffin, Paul Steinhauser, Kathleen Johnston and Alexander Mooney contributed to this report.
Sen. John Cornyn Denies The GOP Is Turning Its Back On Joe Miller, But Won't Say If He Can Win In Alaska (VIDEO) HPFB.init(); HuffPost's QuickRead... ShareBox.ad = function (tag_id){if ($(tag_id) == undefined) return; if ($(tag_id).innerHTML != '') return;ad_spec = {"zone_info": "huffpost.politics/news;amanda-terkel=1;featured-posts=1;politics=1;reporting=1;entry_id=776594;alaska-senate=1;alaska-senate-2010=1;alaska-senate-race=1;bob-menendez=1;dscc=1;elections-2010=1;joe-miller=1;john-cornyn=1;lisa-murkowski=1;nrsc=1;scott-mcadams=1;video=1","ord": 1288540384,"tile": 3,"width": 300,"height": 250,"el_id": tag_id + "_js","class_name": "ad_block ad_wide top","type": "iframe"}HuffPoUtil.WEDGJE.write(ad_spec, tag_id);};Loading... HuffPost's QuickRead... Loading... BIG NEWS:Elections 2010|Michael Steele|Sarah Palin|HuffPost Sanity Bus| Smarter Ideas| More... | LogoutLog In| Sign Up The Huffington Post October 31, 2010 ELECTION DASHBOARD POLLSTER FUNDRACE REPORTERS ELECTIONS LIVE EYES & EARS Front PagePoliticsMediaEntertainmentSportsComedyBusiness Tech N.Y. LivingGreenTravel More Health Style Food World College Impact Books Arts Religion LA Chicago Denver Video Blogs #ad_curtain {display:none} 2010 Elections DashboardSenate Race Projectionsdem 47toss up 4gop 46 84%Probability that Dems retain controlHouse Race Projectionsdem 193toss up 30gop 212 77%Probability of Gop takeoverGovernor Race Projectionsdem 16toss up 4gop 29 +6Probable gain in Gop governorships Amanda Terkelaterkel@huffingtonpost.com| HuffPost ReportingBecome a FanGet Email Alerts from this Reporterfunction hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage() {var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble");bubble.style.display = "none";}function hide_user_promo_bubble() {var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble");var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, {opacity: {to: 0}}, 1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut);myAnim.animate();setTimeout("hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage()", 1100);}function handle_promo_username(params) {var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble");var img = $("user_promo_bubble_image");var anchor = $("user_promo_bubble_link");if (params.has_photo == "true") {img.src = "http://images.huffingtonpost.com/profiles/" + params.user_id + "-tiny.png";} else {img.style.display = "none";Dom.addClass(anchor, "wide");}anchor.innerHTML = "Shared by " + params.user_name;anchor.href = "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/" + params.user_name;bubble.style.display = "block";var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, {opacity: {to: 1}}, 2, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut);myAnim.animate();}if (HuffPoUtil.getUrlVar("user_promo")) {YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() {var parts = document.location.hash.split(","), shared_by = "", badge = "", i;if (parts.length Sen. John Cornyn Denies The GOP Is Turning Its Back On Joe Miller, But Won't Say If He Can Win In Alaska (VIDEO)
First Posted: 10-31-10 11:10 AM | Updated: 10-31-10 11:36 AM
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WASHINGTON -- On Sunday, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Tex.) denied reports that the GOP is abandoning Joe Miller in Alaska's Senate race, but at the same time, refused to say whether he believes the Republican has a real shot at winning.
Cornyn was responding to a story by ABC News's Jonathan Karl, who reported that party leaders are worried that Democrat Scott McAdams may actually win and are therefore "banking on a victory by write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski as the best bet for Republicans to keep the Alaska Senate seat."
"Well, that's not the case," Cornyn responded on ABC's "This Week." " We, what we have done, we are supporting the nominee of our party, which is Mr. Miller, and -- but are concerned."
When asked by host Christiane Amanpour whether he believes Miller can win, Cornyn simply replied, "Well, I think that polls are very close now between Senator Murkowski and Joe Miller, and what we want to make sure of is that the Democrat doesn't win, Bob's candidate doesn't win in November."
In contrast, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Bob Menendez said, "We believe Scott McAdams has a real chance of winning this race."
WATCH:
According to an analysis by The Huffington Post's Pollster, the Alaska Senate race is right now leaning in Murkowski's favor.
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In recent days, both parties have had to defend their long-shot nominees, with controversy for Democrats in Florida over whether President Bill Clinton asked Rep. Kendrick Meek (Fla.) to drop out in order to throw support behind Independent Charlie Crist in the Senate race against Republican Marco Rubio.
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Post to Facebook.Post to Blogger.Post to Twitter.Post to WordPress.Post to TypePad.Post to Tumblr.Post to Yahoo! View All Favorites Recency | Popularity me again 0 minute ago (11:52 AM) 312 Fans Putting Cornyn on television is a waste of the Country's time. He avoids answering questions and spins everything....case and point, when shown the Vitter ad this morning which is similar in character to the Angle anti-Latino ad, he sat and spun and never answered the question. These political roundtables need to avoid putting politicians who spin everything on the air, it is not helpful to our political discourse. me_again: Putting Cornyn on television is a waste of the Country's http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/me_again/john-cornyn-joe-miller-win_n_776594_65671147.html Permalink | Share it zdeedle 9 minutes ago (11:43 AM) 185 Fans it amazes me that cornyn, delay, armey, and perry are the "best" that texas has to offer? i don't count bush amongst those, he was a fake texan, after all, born and raised in conn. but really, lone star, whatever happened to your austins, your houstins, your johnsons. zdeedle: it amazes me that cornyn, delay, armey, and perry are http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/zdeedle/john-cornyn-joe-miller-win_n_776594_65670312.html Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST SUPER USER Fred Sanders 10 minutes ago (11:41 AM) 242 Fans Last desperate act by Palin/Miller and Breitbart: almost inaudible tape about some possible reporters saying possibly something negative about Miller sometime ago.
Palin has really lost. Can you imagine her shame and anger at her pet Miller being taken down and now being abandoned by the GOP?
Sorry for lack of link: http://mediamatters.org/blog/201010310001 Fred_Sanders: Last desperate act by Palin/Miller and Breitbart: almost inaudible tape http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Fred_Sanders/john-cornyn-joe-miller-win_n_776594_65670142.html Permalink | Share it Cooday 11 minutes ago (11:41 AM) 9 Fans Need a break from Palin, Joe Miller, Lisa Murkowski, Koch Brothers and the Tea Baggers?
Our very own Online Concert for --
2010 Alaska Democrat Scott McAdams for U.S. Senate and for all our Democrats.
Alaska Democrats courting all Independent and Republican Voters -
Bruce Willis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2zk56DDjGc
Sports - Put it where you want it (Remi Gaillard) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFsHPFhtEYQ
Jessica Alba The Stare Response http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmzcKXsllWs
OK some of you are not Willis, Sports or Contest fans? We are not giving up on you -
Scotland the Brave http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZuq_mMDg20
Lasse Gjertsen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo
BERLIN CALLING- Sky & Sand (special Mix) by Paul & Fritz Kalkbrenner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyjxSaAvOWM
Scott McAdams, candidate for U.S. Senate http://www.scottmcadams.org/home/
Its about Alaska. Vote Scott McAdams! Cooday: Need a break from Palin, Joe Miller, Lisa Murkowski, Koch http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Cooday/john-cornyn-joe-miller-win_n_776594_65670062.html Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST SUPER USER Fred Sanders 11 minutes ago (11:40 AM) 242 Fans Last desperate act by Palin/Miller and Breitbart: almost inaudible tape about some possible reporters saying possibly something negative about Miller sometime ago.
Palin has really lost. Can you imagine her shame and anger at her pet Miller being taken down and now being abandoned by the GOP? Fred_Sanders: Last desperate act by Palin/Miller and Breitbart: almost inaudible tape http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Fred_Sanders/john-cornyn-joe-miller-win_n_776594_65670052.html Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST PUNDIT SPQR1052 17 minutes ago (11:35 AM) 1156 Fans Follow Smart.
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84%Probability that Dems retain controlHouse Race Projectionsdem 193toss up 30gop 212\ABS\Auto Blog Samurai\data\Croobert News\huffingtonpost\el-2010-d-house.png)
77%Probability of Gop takeoverGovernor Race Projectionsdem 16toss up 4gop 29\ABS\Auto Blog Samurai\data\Croobert News\huffingtonpost\el-2010-d-governor.png)
+6Probable gain in Gop governorships
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