Bill Clinton and Rex and Sharry Miller Called Me Sunday

First there was another  a robo poll

• Q1: If you've already voted, push 1;  If you are highly likely to vote, press 2, etc.; 
  
• Q2:  Which of the following candidates are you most likely to vote for:  Undecided, press 1, Lisa Murkowski, press 2, etc.)

Then I got robo calls from Bill Clinton (vote for McAdams) and from Rex and Sharry Miller (Please vote for our son.) (Isn't the sabbath supposed to be a day of rest?)

Neither George W. Bush nor Frank or Nancy Murkowski have called to tell me to vote for Lisa Murkowski.

But we have gotten daily glossy 9X11 fliers in the mail from her and her corporate Native supporters.

The messages that  symbolize the candidates for me are:

Miller:  I'll cut the deficit and restore the Constitution and save America.  And I'm not as bad as they keep saying.

Murkowski:  I have seniority.  Miller's a disaster.  And a vote for McAdams is a vote for Miller.

McAdams:  Vote your values not your fears.

Given the political use of the polls in this race, no one has any faith in any of them.  And they don't really know how to deal with a write in candidate.

Tea Party people know they're voting for Miller no matter what the media say he's done.

The Alaska Republican establishment are voting for Lisa Murkowski.

Independents will go all different ways depending on what their individual issues are.

Most Democrats seem to be ready to vote for McAdams on the grounds that maybe McAdams does have a chance, and Murkowski won't vote much differently from Miller anyway.

But the 'practical' Democrats are mulling over Murkowski's pitch that McAdams can't win.   They're thinking that Murkowski is better than Miller and can overcome the write-in odds. 

Of course, that assumes that enough people will

1.  Want to vote for Murkowski
2.  Remember to spell her name close enough to be accepted as a Murkowski vote
3.  Remember to fill in the oval next to her name
4.  Remember which office she's running for

My guess is that there will be quite a few votes for Murkowski for Governor, for US House, for Lt. Governor, and various state house and senate seats.  

And a lot of Alaskans aren't even going to vote.  

Attorney Don Mitchell, who worked closely with Sen. Ted Stevens, is the author of two huge, highly acclaimed volumes on the history of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and a Democrat, has boiled it down to whether Democratic and left-leaning Independent voters should vote for Alaska or vote for the USA.

After giving that "I'm damned if I do, I'm damned if don't" conundrum considerable thought, the way I come out on it is that undecided Democratic and center-left independent voters have to decide whether they are Alaska patriots or national patriots.
For an Alaska patriot the decision is easy. He or she should vote for Lisa Murkowski. Because an Alaska patriot would be a dumbbell to give up the seat on the Senate Committee on Appropriations that Alaska has held since 1973 and the seat on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that Alaska has held since statehood (when it was called the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs). Lisa holds both seats, and if she is reelected she will continue to hold them.
But if an undecided Democratic or center-left independent voter is a national patriot, then that voter should vote for Scott McAdams, knowing when he or she does so that casting that vote may help elect Joe Miller. Because having Joe Miller in the Senate is a better result for the nation than reelecting the same old Lisa. [You can read Mitchell's whole piece here.]

 So, as you can see, everything is illuminated here in Alaska the day before the election.  And with a write-in candidate, it could be Wednesday, Thursday, or even longer before we know the results of this race which has made all the other Alaska races nearly invisible.