Alaska gets complicated. Murkowski considering third-party run. Tony Knowles subbing for McAdams?

[jefferson_dem]

Palin Foe Mulls Third-Party Run
by Shushannah Walshe Info

There’s a new wrinkle in Alaska’s hotly contested GOP Senate primary. With Senator Lisa Murkowski trailing Palin-endorsed insurgent Joe Miller, a source inside Murkowski’s campaign tells The Daily Beast the senator may abandon the GOP for a third-party run. Shushannah Walshe reports from Alaska.

The ongoing battle for who won the Republican primary in the Alaska Senate race will come down to the absentee ballots, but in an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, a source within the Murkowski campaign says they know of one possible legal option to pursue a third-party run. If Murkowski is not victorious when the absentee ballots are counted and decides to wage an Independent party bid, they might consider using this option, which the source wouldn't describe, but did confirm they were seriously looking at.

"We are going to take a look at them and see whether the option is there or not, but it's a decision she (Murkowski) has to make," the Murkowski camp source said. "There is an option I know of."

Murkowski is not a secessionist, which Alaskans know, and an aggressive PR campaign promoting her independence rather than the AIP may be her only route back to Washington this fall.

In a general election, Murkowski would be hard to beat. The camp said it would also be a message to their supporters who didn't bother going to the polls Tuesday.

<SNIP>

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-25/alaska-senate-race-will-murkowski-run-as-third-party-candidate/

Alaska Senate Race Gets Complicated
— By Kate Sheppard

| Wed Aug. 25, 2010 1:09 PM PDT.Well, this could make things even more interesting in Alaska. Tea party candidate Joe Miller looks likely to unseat incumbent Lisa Murkowski, but now the Daily Beast is reporting that the state's senior senator is mulling a third-party run.

While the deadline for independent candidates to file has passed, "a source within the Murkowski campaign says they know of one possible legal option to pursue a third party run."

And then it gets even more complicated, as rumors fly that Democrats might substitute former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles for Scott McAdams, the winner of yesterday's primary, on the November ballot.

Oh, Alaska. Let no one ever say you don't give us plenty of stuff to write about.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/08/alaska-senate-race-gets-complicated

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Egggggs-ellent

[WI_DEM]

2. How can they just substitute a candidate who won the democratic primary and not only won it

but won it by 30-points? Unless that candidate decides to step aside, which I doubt very much--especially if the GOP might be splintered. I think that "rumor" is just hogwash.

[jefferson_dem]

3. Who knows? It could happen. See here...

Now that the seat might actually be in play, however, the Alaska Democratic Party could make a rapid revision to its game plan, replacing McAdams with a candidate of their choosing. The party's rules allow for it to replace a nominee, and they've done it before.

One likely option? Former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles. The 67-year-old Democrat served from 1994 to 2002 but could not run again because of term limits. In 2004, he challenged Lisa Murkowski for Senate and lost. In 2006, he lost to Palin for governor (he was allowed to run for a third term if it was not consecutive to his prior two).

"He wasn't unpopular," says Dave Dittman, a major pollster in Alaska, "it's just that he'd already served two terms and there was the feeling that he'd served his time. I'd say he's probably still pretty formidable."

William Galston, a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, agrees that Knowles could have a real shot. "He enjoyed a lot of statewide popularity," Galston says. "And depending on how far Joe Miller is outside what passes for the mainstream in Alaska, Knowles might conceivably be able to pull off an upset." He continued:

Alaskans talk a much more robust libertarian language than they practice. I don't know what Miller stands for, whether he's taken positions akin to Rand Paul or Sharron Angle. If he's a stauncher conservative than Murkowski -- and I know the social issues also worked for him, at least within the Republican base -- but otherwise not demonstrably crazy, that's one thing. If he has endorsed the Alaska version of dissing the 1964 Civil Rights Act or dismantling Social Security, then a not-too-far-off-center Democrat like Tony Knowles might do pretty well.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/08/will-democrats-dump-their-nominee-in-alaska/62067/

[WI_DEM]

5. Well, I guess it could be done, but I'm not sure it would be helpful

there would be a lot of bad publicity. I'm sure the winner of the primary wouldn't go quietly--and besides Knowles just lost 2 statewide races--maybe a new face would in the long run be better than some establishment democrat?

[roguevalley]

9. first of all, all this finagling is Alaskan politics. Murkowski appointed

the Princess himself and so replacing a candidate isn't new.

[WI_DEM]

12. Who cares? doesn't mean that Knowles would necessarily be the better candidate

this is a year when outsiders are in. A new face might be good--or better than a guy who lost his last two races. And you don't think that Dem primary voters wouldn't be upset?

[bluestateguy]

4. How would the Democrats do that?

McAdams may be a lightweight, but he did legitimately win the primary.

[tallahasseedem]

6. I really hope that she will...

it would be fun to watch!

[TlalocW]

7. Honestly, I hope she pulls this one out

The media are playing Palin up as some sort of King/Queen-maker with her endorsements (they're ignoring just how piss-poor her record really is to keep the narrative they want). If the Alaskan candidate she backed lost, that would hopefully be somewhat devastating.

TlalocW

[WI_DEM]

8. I think it would be more fun for Sarah's candidate to win and Murkowski to run as an indie.

[FBaggins]

16. She doesn't appear to have that option.

Unless she runs a write-in campaign (which would be highly unlikely to succeed).

She needs to get on the ballot with an existing party that has a line. There's the Alaska Independence Party, but they apparently primary and the primary is over. Reportedly the Libertarian party remains, but I'm not sure they would have any interest in her.

[Politicalboi]

22. Yup split the vote

LOL!

[roguevalley]

10. this will split the gop's votes and we win.

[Thrill]

11. Is that guy Knowles the only Democrat in Alaska

Jeesh. How many times will he run and lose

[madinmaryland]

21. He was actually governor two terms up there. Not bad for a dem.

He would have beaten Murkowski's ass, but Uncle Ted stepped at the end when it appeared Tony would easily win, breaking a commitment to stay out of the race, and smeared Tony costing him the election. It's Alaska politics.

[Uzybone]

13. Run Lisa run

the most underlooked story of the past years by the M$M is the rapid splintering of the GOP.

[Imajika]

14. Wishful thinking...

It isn't that the Republican party is splintering, it is more a case of the far right taking the party over. Rather than create a real 3rd party that would split the right wing vote, they are seizing the carcass of the Republican party. They are doing exactly what so many progressives here argue we should be doing, yet we blindly make fun of the various little messes they make along the way without seeing the big picture and realizing what is really going on.

They are actually moving against some of their more moderate members (they call them RINO's), meanwhile we do mostly nothing to get rid of our more conservative members (we call them DINO's).

Laughing at them is dumb. Yes, they may lose some elections while they take over the GOP and drive it further to the right, but in a two party system they will eventually get hold of power. They may end up a party of total whackadoodles, but if the economy continues to slide the voters will very likely vote for them anyway as a way of punishing Democrats.

The amazing thing is watching otherwise smart people right here on DU, where it appears most folks can't see the proverbial forest for the trees. The far right is actually DOING what so many of us scream and yell we should be doing - and then we make fun of them for it without recognizing what is happening.

[Uzybone]

15. Stop quaking in your boots

Most of these tea partiers will lose and lose and lose.

The demographics are not in their favor. The scared intolerant white vote is shrinking.

[golfguru]

18. Except Wingnut JD Hayworth lost to Maverick McCain n/t

[madinmaryland]

20. Now the rumours are starting to fly that Scott McAdams my step aside

and let Tony Knowles run if Murkowski jumps in as an independent.

Let the fun begin!!

[golfguru]

17. May be Lisa Mukowski & Charlie Crist & Lieberman can all start a new party

I suggest some names....
THE LOSER'S PARTY
SORE LOSER'S PARTY
BAIT & SWITCH PARTY

[Pab Sungenis]

24. Actually, that wouldn't be a bad idea for them.

They could position themselves as the "moderate" voices and most likely control the swing. In terms of filibuster if not in real terms if the Senate ends up being 49-47-4.

Look at the mess that was the Australian election. The Greens have seven Senate seats down there, but they effectively have control of the Senate because they are the balance of power.

A new "moderate Republican" party or pseudo-party of three independent Senators could wind up running the show, or at least be a check on the worst abuses of the right wing that controls the GOP. And who knows who else might buck one of the major parties to join the new one.

[jefferson_dem]

19. UPDATE: Lisa Murkowski: 'Premature' to talk 3rd party bid (Politico)

:wtf: at Politico's image choice for Murk.

Murkowski: 'Premature' to talk 3rd party bid
By: Shira Toeplitz
August 25, 2010 07:57 PM EDT



Trailing attorney Joe Miller by less than 1,500 votes—and with at least 8,000 more still to be counted—Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Wednesday at a press conference she would wait until all Republican primary absentee votes were counted before making any decisions about how to proceed.

Her next step is one that could have dramatic consequences for the national Republican Party in the wake of Miller’s stunning performance at the polls Tuesday.

Amid speculation that she might run as a write-in or third-party candidate if she loses—a scenario that would jeopardize control of an otherwise safely Republican seat—Murkowski told reporters in Anchorage that it was "too premature" to discuss that option.

She insisted that "it ain't over yet, folks" and that she would wait for all the absentee ballots to be counted before she made any decisions.

<SNIP>

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41467.html#ixzz0xfO8BoLB

[Mass]

23. For Knowles, if this is even possible, my feeling is that it would be a bad thing.

The guy does not have the courage to run when the race was challenging, but would run now there is chance of winning. Frankly, if I was the GOP, I would run a campaign with "Knowles: opportunist". But I suspect this is only one of these crazy rumors that happen when something unexpected happens.