Sen. Lisa Murkowski, recent loser of the Alaskan GOP senate primary has decided to break her promise to respect the will of Republican primary voters, win or lose. The daughter of a prominent Alaskan political family, Murkowski is now running as a write-in candidate, albeit one with alot of money on hand.
The logic behind Murkowski's decision may be based on the results of Alaska's GOP and Democratic senatorial primaries. Murkowski lost to "tea party" candidate Joe Miller by just 2,006 votes. The final tally was a razor thin 55,878 - 53,872. On the Democratic side, Scott McAdams beat out two other candidates for the honor of losing to either Murkowski or Miller. Cumulatively, the Democratic primary drew 30,000 voters. Murkowski's ticket to victory in the general election will obviously be to woo a fraction of Alaskan Democrats who, in the face of certain defeat, may opt to vote for the more moderate and known Murkowski.
As a moderate myself, I have no problems with Murkowski. Yet this extremely selfish act shows where Murkowski's allegiance really lies, not in the party she was a lifelong member of, nor the wishes of the very people she once claimed to represent. In this aspect she is no different than Charlie Crist of Florida, another former Republican turned independent. It is indeed sobering to note that Charlie Crist has announced he will caucus with the Democrats if elected. It is any one's guess at this point what Murkowski will do if she manages to beat Miller in November. Perhaps she will become a Republican Joe Lieberman. Who knows. Both Murkowski and Crist may satisfy their base political ambitions but in the process they will also live up to the dangerous, cynical perception some tea party activists hold of mainstream Republicans, that in the end they are politicians devoid of principle.
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