Castle in Alaska

An early Spanish lesson taught me that a Castle in Spain (castilla de espana) was an idiomatic expression for an impossibility, like a castle on the moon. A similar sort of impossibility is being experienced with a Castle in Alaska.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was appointed by her father, Frank Murkowski, to take his old seat in the Senate when he became Governor in 2002. This nepotism created a furor in the Last Frontier and resulted in a successful referendum that stripped the Governor of the power to directly appoint replacement Senators.

Lisa was elected to a full term in 2004, aided by the Alaska landslide vote for George W. Bush. But Lisa lost her Republican senatorial primary to Tea Party favorite Joe Miller and she is acting like a sore loser. First she shopped her candidacy around to the Alaska Libertarian Party, which had a guaranteed line on the general election ballot. But the Libertarians showed some spinal and refused to dump their current candidate and their principles in lieu of a chance of electoral success.

Two and a half weeks after the primary ballots were counted, Lisa Murkowski announced her write in campaign for the general election, but not before her campaign dunned beltway lobbyist for support. This seems to be the same tactic that her RINO confrere Mike Castle is contemplating in the First State after his loss to Christine O’Donnell for the Joe Biden’s old Delaware Senate seat.

Let Freedom Ring, a Tea Party inspired 527 organization, produced an outstanding radio & Web advertisement that tells the story as a fairy tale. Although the ad is amusing, it certainly conveys a core truth in the American body politics, especially in an anti-incumbent year.

If there is any solace, Murkowski’s quixotic campaign does not seem to be significantly hurting the GOP nominee. According to Rassmussen Reports, Miller [R] is leading with 42%, McAdams [D] has 25% and Murkowski [?] with 27%. So Lisa seems to be pulling more Democrats than Republicans.