Fairbanks Daily News Miner - Lisa Murkowski Campaigns In Fairbanks, Takes On Opponents' Claims

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by Chris Freiberg

Sen. Lisa Murkowski has long been involved in politics, but she said she has never seen a campaign generate as much excitement as hers since she announced last month she will pursue a write-in campaign to retain her seat.

"I've never felt anything like this," Murkowski said. "Alaskans from all different corners, Native and non-Native, Republicans and Democrats, AIP and Greens have come together to make this happen." Murkowski was in Fairbanks on Saturday making several campaign appearances, including stops at the annual Catholic schools HIPOW auction and the International Sled Dog Symposium.

She also sat down with the News-Miner editorial board for about an hour to discuss the state of her campaign.

The eight-year veteran of the Senate lost the Republican nomination in August to Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller but has defied the party establishment and stayed in the race as a write-in candidate.

No write-in campaigns for statewide office have ever been successful in Alaska, and the last U.S. senator to win a seat with a write-in campaign was Strom Thurmond in 1954. On the campaign trail, Democrat Scott McAdams has repeatedly said it is impossible for Murkowski to claim victory.

But Murkowski said Saturday she intends to win the race and called on the administration of Gov. Sean Parnell to make it clear what write-in votes will and will not count for her.

Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell has said ballots for Murkowski must include her name written next to a darkened oval. Voter intent will be taken into account when the ballots are counted, but he said last week he is waiting to hear from the attorney general before addressing the issue of misspellings.

Absentee voting begins Oct. 18, and Murkowski said she would like the issue addressed soon.

"I really want to have an answer from the Department of Law in terms of what's going to count and what isn't going to count," she said. "... The last thing in the world I think you would want is a crazy, mixed-up election that drags on."

On the topic of Miller, Murkowski criticized his "hypocritical" positions on entitlement programs given that he and his family have often taken advantage of them, and expressed frustration with his "simplistic" answers to questions about other issues such as earmarks.

"No one wants to hear eliminating earmarks gets rid of one percent of federal dollars," she said. "Saying you're cutting the deficit is deceptive."

Murkowski also took issue with comments Miller has been making on the stump about her support of a bill that would allow the Sealaska Native corporation to select lands from within the Tongass National Forest in Southeast.

Sealaska was the only one of 12 initial Alaska Native corporations not to receive entitlement to lands under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Murkowski said.

The senator said the map of the proposed lands has been repeatedly redrawn and will specifically not target old timber that would be especially damaging to the environment if cut down.

And while Miller has portrayed the bill as being crafted in secret, Murkowski said there were multiple open meetings in the Southeast to make sure all concerns about the land transfer were addressed.

"I can honestly say I am proud of how we have reached out to every stakeholder out there," she said.

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