ALASKA UPDATE – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  From The Politico:

With the majority of write-in ballots opened and counted, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski appeared Saturday to be on track to win reelection over Republican Joe Miller.

Murkowski has won 89.5 percent of the write-in ballots outright, plus another 8 percent that were challenged but counted for the senator anyway. The fate of those challenged ballots will be decided in the coming weeks pending court orders.

COMMENT:  Unless there's a miracle for Joe Miller, Murkowski will be back in the Senate, where she'll caucus with the Republican Party, which denied her renomination.

Joe Miller, who on paper was a fine candidate, in the real world was not.  After winning the primary he threw away the election to Murkowski, who ran what will probably be only the second successful write-in candidacy for the U.S. Senate in American history.

It is time to contemplate thoughtfully the quality of some of the candidates the Republicans, especially the tea partiers, placed before the voters in Senate races.  Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell, Ken Buck, Joe Miller.  These were all winnable races.  Proper vetting of candidates, and good campaign strategies, are critical keys to victory.  You can't just run someone is is "right" on the ideology, but lacks almost everything else.  Losing is very boring.

November 14, 2010