Half-Baked Alaska: PDS Strikes Again!
If you've haven't followed the political drama surrounding the Alaska GOP Senate primary . . . well, lucky you. What looked like a close win for Sarah Palin-backed insurgent Joe Miller -- the winner by 1,668 votes in the final count of Tuesday's ballots -- has shown signs of turning into an ugly nightmare.
Shortly after I crashed Wednesday morning, reporters began speculating about the possibility of a third-party bid by Tuesday's loser, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
This would follow a pattern of GOP sore-loser moves established last fall in New York's 23rd District special election, when Republican Dede Scozzafava -- trailing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman -- quit the race the weekend before Election Day and endorsed the Democrat, Bill Owens.
Similarly, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter switched to being a Democrat after it became apparent he would lose the GOP primary to conservative challenger Pat Toomey, (In an ironic denouement, Specter lost the May 19 Democratic primary; turns out that Democrats prefer to elect actual Democrats.) And, of course,Florida Gov. Charlie Crist launched an independent bid for Senate after conservative rival Marco Rubio moved ahead in the Republican primary race there.
Suspicion that Murkowski would emulate this pattern turned out to be more than suspicion. Enter into this scenario a man who might well be designated Patient Zero in the national pandemic known as Palin Derangement Syndrome (PDS):
Early Wednesday morning, Alaska Libertarian Party chairman Scott Kohlhaas got a call from ex-Republican Andrew Halcro, asking if Kohlhaas would be open to having Sen. Lisa Murkowski replace Dave Haase as the LP’s Senate candidate.
Such a switch would be the only option for Murkowksi to be on the Nov. 2 ballot, should she and the National Republican Senatorial Committee fail in their effort to overturn conservative challenger Joe Miller’s 1,668-vote victory in Tuesday’s primary.
A former Republican state legislator, Halcro has disavowed any “official” connection to the Murkowski campaign, but a source in Anchorage says Halcro has masterminded the effort to secure the LP nomination for the incumbent Republican senator as a fallback option, should Miller’s victory hold up. And Halcro acknowledged to an Anchorage Daily News reporter that he is in direct communication with Murkowski.
Major national media have quoted Halcro without noting that, after Sarah Palin won the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2006, Halcro launched a third-party vengeance campaign focused on attcking Palin. He finished with 9% of the vote, and subsequently launched a blog which made him a “folk hero” to Palin’s enemies, according to an Anchorage Daily News article published in August 2008 — just two weeks before Palin was picked as the GOP vice-presidential nominee.
Now, you may like or dislike Palin, but there are some people for whom Palin-hating is an obsession or, indeed, a profession. Halcro was already famous as a Palin-hater before she became nationally famous, and he has since made something of a career of it, with the assistance of reports who treat him as an authoritative Alaska source on all things Palin.
As unrealistic as a Libertarian makeover for Murkowski may seem, Halcro's efforts to promote this idea turned it into Meme O' Th' Day in the political blogosphere. Red State's Erick Erickson reported that "multiple sources" had told him Murkowski had agreed to part with a "sizeable chunk" of her more than $1 million in campaign cash in return for the LP nomination, if she were to fail to overturn Tuesday's primary vote.
Friday afternoon, however, I got a phone call from Alaska LP vice chairman Harley Brown, who pretty much torpedoed the Halcro-Murkowski strategem: "More than likely — 99 percent — there’s no way Murkowski is going to be our nominee. I don’t see that happening, honestly.” Brown dismissed the reports of Murkowski payments to the LP as "ludicrous" and "somebody running their mouth."
So that part of the Alaska nightmare scenario appears farfetched, at least. The absentee ballots are supposed to be counted Monday night and if -- as most observers now expect -- Joe Miller still has more votes than Murkowski when that count is finished, then Murkowki will be finished, too. GOP leaders will demand that the incumbent foreswear any challenge to the primary result, and Miller can be expected to cruise to victory Nov. 2 in a state that is a deep shade of Republican red.
Or at least that's what the catastrophically sleep-deprived among us hope.
And what about Andrew Halcro and his fellow PDS sufferers? Well, they'll go off on some new snipe-hunt, like Wile E. Coyote ordering up another gizmo from Acme in hopes of finally catching that pesky Road Runner.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Half-Baked Alaska: PDS Strikes Again!
I'm amazed that conservative candidates ever win, given that they have to overcome Democrats, RINO opportunists... and, too often, buffoons at the NRSC, NRCC, and in state GOP leadership.
It's lucky for Bush Derangement Syndrome sufferers that Sarah Palin stepped onto the national stage when she did. Otherwise, what would they do with themselves now?
Jun '10
Re: Half-Baked Alaska: PDS Strikes Again!
Joe Miller on the Laura Ingraham radio show, 7/21/10 (7 min 43 sec)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_uWUv9iNVY
Jul '10
Re: Half-Baked Alaska: PDS Strikes Again!
Whatever happened to politicians who lose graciously, concede defeat politely, and return to private life quietly? A vanishing breed, apparently…
Jul '10
Re: Half-Baked Alaska: PDS Strikes Again!
Why wouldn't they want to cling to power. As Ursula points out here being a politician can be quite lucrative.
Jun '10
Re: Half-Baked Alaska: PDS Strikes Again!
People like Charlie Crist "honestly" believe they are at the very center of the universe. He's the worst of the bunch, but certainly not alone. Part of the reason is that we treat high-profile politicians as demi-gods, they drink the kool-aid, and can't imagine a world without them at its center. "Humility" and "politician" can no longer be used in the same sentence, unless it's ironically or in quotes.
Edited on Aug 28, 2010 at 7:12amJun '10
Re: Half-Baked Alaska: PDS Strikes Again!
What remains unsaid is why a politician runs in the first place. The short answer is always power, but here’s an anecdote to stir your imaginations and possibly some debate. When I was in university I had a political studies prof, who attended all national party conventions irrespective of party. One afternoon he began a conversation with a then Canadian cabinet minister, the man held the equivalent position to that of a US Secretary of State. The afternoon conversation as well as the drinking progressed into the evening and then into the night. Finally, the prof and the cabinet minister repaired to the minister’s hotel suite where the conversation and drinking continued. To my prof’s surprise—and I do not doubt the veracity of the story as he told it in class year after year—the cabinet minister pulled out a suitcase that contained nothing but scrapbooks, whereupon the minister force-marched the prof through his career as a politician. Anyone, besides me that is, thinking a dearth of amour propre here? Like it or not it takes a certain type to be a politician, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
Jul '10
Re: Half-Baked Alaska: PDS Strikes Again!
If you define amour propre, I'll be happy to answer the question.
Jun '10
Re: Half-Baked Alaska: PDS Strikes Again!
Amour propre: French meaning self love more generally taken to mean self-esteem.