Defeated By the Tea Party, GOP Candidate Wages Write-In Candidacy

The Tea Party Movement is perhaps the biggest story coming in to the November midterm elections. With the string of upsets that it has accomplished in various Republican primaries, the Tea Party is displaying its strength and is riding on the anger of the people. The most popular of them all is Christine O’Donnell’s victory in the Delaware Republican primary where she vanquished high-favored GOP nominee Mike Castle. But another Tea Party-backed candidate worth mentioning is Joe Miller who was successful in his upset victory over Lisa Murkowski during last month’s Republican primary.

Unwilling to fade into the Alaska political arena, Murkowski is now waging a write-in candidacy against Miller. She is hoping that voters will realize her huge contributions to the state. It is interesting to remember that Murkowski was the one responsible for bringing billions of dollars in Federal projects to the people of Alaska. While it may be a difficult task, history tells us that it is indeed possible for a write-in candidate to win over legitimate and established candidates. Murkowski is now alone in waging war against those newcomers who derailed them during their primaries.

While other veteran Republicans who were toppled by Tea Party candidates chose to simply give up the race, others are still very enthusiastic in having a comeback. After suffering from a humiliating defeat at the hands of Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio in the GOP nomination, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is reportedly running for the Senate as an independent candidate. In Delaware, the disgruntled former governor and Republican representative Mike Castle is also eyeing on the possibility of him running as an independent candidate. It will certainly be a long and bumpy road for these candidates as they will be running without the support of a major party and without a formidable cash-raising apparatus.

Murkowski will be using her association with one of the state’s most popular figure for a quarter century, the late Senator Ted Stevens. She will also banking on the name and recognition of her father, former Governor Frank Murkowski who once held the Senate seat in Alaska. While political analyst do not expect Murkowski to win, she still has a greater chance considering the high number of upsets achieved during these elections and the unprecedented influences and trends which could potentially work for Murkowski.

A particular and tougher challenge now for her is what form of her name should be written on ballots so that it would count as a vote. She is now asking the people of Alaska to come up with slogans, write letters to the editor, call-in to radio talk shows and make videos and upload it to YouTube. She is also busy handling out sample ballots which will guide voters in how to write her name in actual ballots. She also plans to use the radio to teach voters how to do the write-in voting process.