Senator Lisa Murkowski Makes History By Winning Alaska Write-In Campaign

Lisa Murkowski has retained her Alaska U.S. Senate seat by winning her write-in candidacy, the first time this has been done in more than 50 years.

With only 700 votes left to count Wednesday afternoon, state election officials announced that Murkowski’s lead was insurmountable.

The Associated Press reported that the incumbent was ahead by about 10,000 votes — a total that includes 8,153 ballots challenged by the Miller campaign over issues like legibility, misspellings or extra words.

Joe Miller, the Palin-supported tea party candidate, has threatened legal action if the numbers are close.

Miller, a little-known conservative lawyer…shook up Alaska politics when he defeated Murkowski in the GOP primary. He appeared headed for the Senate until Murkowski decided to stage a write-in campaign. On election night, the number of write-in votes exceeded the number that Miller received by about 41 to 34 percent. Democrat Scott McAdams came in third with 25 percent of the vote.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.