Murkowski emerges as victor in Senate race

Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska

Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Wednesday became the first Senate candidate in more than 50 years to win a write-in campaign, emerging victorious over her tea-party rival after a painstaking, weeklong count of hand-written votes.

The victory completes a remarkable comeback for the Republican after her humiliating loss in the GOP primary to Joe Miller.

Her victory became clear when Alaska election officials confirmed they had only about 700 votes left to count, putting Murkowski in safe territory to win re-election. Murkowski is flying back from Washington to Alaska on Wednesday to make an “exciting announcement,” proclaiming in an e-mail to supporters that the campaign “made history.”

Murkowski has a lead of 10,400 votes, a total that includes 8,153 ballots in which Miller observers challenged over things such as misspellings, extra words or legibility issues.

Miller told Fox News that he is not conceding the race and will decide at the end of the week whether the campaign will request a recount. Miller has maintained he’ll stop fighting if the math doesn’t work in his favor.

Miller’s loss is a major rebuke for Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate who backed Miller and has long had a tense relationship with the Murkowski family.

Miller’s defeat means Palin couldn’t deliver in her home state for a candidate she roundly endorsed.

The write-in bid was an effort Murkowski almost didn’t undertake after her stunning loss in the August primary to Miller.

She went back and forth on whether to run but ultimately decided to wage a write-in campaign, saying she’d been encouraged by Alaskans who wanted a reasonable alternative between the conservative Miller and the little-known Democratic nominee.