From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C –

Both of Alaska's senators voted Monday to allow a vote to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years, all but assuring the Senate will pass the full measure in the coming days.

The procedural vote, which was held open for several hours so that weather-bound senators could make it back to Washington, gained the more than 60 votes it needed to move to a full vote.

The compromise crafted by President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans would continue benefits for the long-term unemployed for 13 months, reduce the Social Security payroll tax by 2 percentage points next year, set a 35 percent tax on estates of $5 million or more, and extend dozens of special tax breaks for businesses, energy and education interests.

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, issued this statement after the vote: "As I've said before, this is not the deal I was pushing for. But I strongly support tax relief for middle class and working Alaskans, and that is why I voted to provide much-needed tax relief to 98 percent of Alaska families and 99 percent of small businesses."

"This package has some important elements including extending the Child Tax Credit for families, the payroll tax cut for small businesses, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit which has already helped millions of American families send a child to college."

"These cuts will make a real difference for Alaskans in the New Year, putting money in their pockets as we continue to recover from this economic crisis," he said. "I remain concerned, however, that fiscal responsibility and reining in the debt have been all too absent from the conversation about our economy. If we don't get serious about cracking down on spending, we will only put families and small businesses at risk, again."

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

Update, 5:21 p.m.:

Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto just said the decision on whether to appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court is “under advisement.”

DeSoto also sent out the following email in response to the judge's ruling:

"The purpose of the legal action is to ensure that the integrity of the vote is upheld. The Miller Campaign believes that every valid write-in ballot should be counted, but not those that fail to meet the standard established by the state legislature. Additionally, the core American values of equal protection under the law and fundamental fairness in this election require that the Miller ballots are counted and reviewed in the same fashion as Lisa Murkowski's, by hand, and that the final count includes only those who are eligible to vote. When we've ensured that these issues have been addressed, then we'll have an accurate count, and if Lisa Murkowski's tally is greater than Joe's, then he will certainly honor that result."

Update, 3:35 p.m.:

Superior Court Judge William Carey ruled against Joe Miller on all counts.

The judge found there was no evidence of election fraud and that there was nothing wrong with the state considering "voter intent" and counting misspelled write-in ballots for Murkowski.

"In interpreting statutes in election law contexts, the Alaska Supreme Court has emphasized the importance of giving effect to the will of the people as expressed in the exercise of their vote," the judge wrote in his ruling put out this afternoon.

The Miller campaign argued state law didn't allow misspellings to count.

State law says write in votes should be counted if the name "as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy, of the candidate or the last name of the candidate is written in the space provided."

The judge focused on the fact that the law includes the word "appears."

"The definition of 'appears' in this context does not require perfection or precision, but rather a close, apparent approximation known to the viewer upon first look. This seems to the court the far more reasonable interpretation of the term than the rigid meaning attributed to it by (Miller)," the judge wrote in his ruling. "If exact spellings were intended by the legislature, even with respect to the most difficult names, the legislature could have and would have said so."

The judge also disagreed with Miller's argument that the illegality of counting misspelled ballots is confirmed by Murkowski's own effort during the campaign to convince voters to spell her name right.

"He seems to suggest that a voter who really wanted to vote for Murkowski would have no excuse for getting the spelling of her name wrong. But of course there are many reasons why this might happen, whether they involve a village elder who had grown up speaking his or her Native dialect, a recently naturalized citizen, a person with any one of a number of disabilities, or someone who just mistakenly left off a letter in his or her chosen candidate's name," the judge wrote.

Elections Director Gail Fenumiai has said her standard for accepting ballots was "if I can pronounce the name by the way it's spelled."

Update, 2:55p.m.:

Superior Court Judge William B. Carey just ruled in favor of the state and against Joe Miller in his challenge of the election. Miller has until Tuesday to appeal.

Download the ruling here.

We'll be updating shortly.

Update, 2:20 p.m.:

Lisa Murkowski's legal team filed motions this afternoon asking to be allowed to intervene in the federal lawsuit Miller filed.

She was already given permission to intervene in the state suit.

Murkowski argued in the motion that she should have received more votes than she did, because the state didn't count ballots where voters wrote in her name but failed to fill in the oval.

Original post:

State Superior Court Judge William Carey is expected to rule this afternoon on Joe Miller’s challenge of the Senate election. The ruling is sure to be appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court.

The timing is key. Federal Judge Ralph Beistline has blocked certification of Lisa Murkowski as the winner in the Senate race until the state courts decide on Miller’s lawsuit. The new U.S. Senate is to be sworn in Jan.5 and the state says Alaska will be left with just one senator, Mark Begich, if the election isn’t certified by then.

The state filed a flurry of motions in Beistline’s federal court arguing that Miller is trying to slow down the process and urging Beistline to speed it up.

“If certification is enjoined beyond the convening of the new Congress in January, the state will suffer significant and immeasurable harm through the loss of full representation in the Senate,” said a motion filed by acting Alaska Attorney General Richard Svobodny.

The state wants Beistline to lift his order blocking certification of the election if Miller loses in state court today and doesn’t file his appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court by the close of business on Monday.

Otherwise, Miller would have 30 days to appeal.

“Mr. Miller’s conduct of the state litigation suggests that he is strongly motivated to delay a final determination of the election result,” Svobodny wrote. “He opposed expedited consideration of the state’s Motion for Summary Judgment, and just yesterday, after full briefing and oral argument on the state’s motion for summary judgment on all counts, moved to amend his complaint to add a new claim and requested discovery to try to give substance to his entirely speculative allegations.”

The state is also asking Beistline to force Miller to argue any remaining federal legal issues at the same time that the Alaska Supreme Court considers the state court lawsuit.

“This is the only way to assure that the issues in this case can be resolved before January 5,” Svobodny wrote.

The only ruling Beistline made so far today is to require Miller to file a motion by Monday morning in response to the state’s request for federal legal issues to be dealt with right away.

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who said Wednesday she supports the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays in the military, voted against the underlying defense authorization bill that includes language to overturn the prohibition.

The vote failed 57-40. Democrats needed 60 votes to proceed with debate on the bill, which includes language that would lead to the policy's reversal. Murkowski and several other Republicans who support the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" had said they would vote to move the bill forward for debate -- but only if they were allowed additional time for debate and more leeway to propose amendments.

Wednesday, Murkowski said in a statement that America is "the loser when it denies those who are willing to make the great sacrifices demanded of our men and women in uniform the opportunity do so on grounds of sexual orientation."

But she also warned her support of the underlying legislation was conditional, and she wouldn't vote to move forward on debate of the defense bill unless Democrats gave the GOP additional time to debate and amend it.

All 42 Republican senators said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week that they wouldn't agree to let any legislation come to a vote until they had considered tax cuts and government spending bills.

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, supports repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and voted to proceed with debate on the bill.

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she'll vote to repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy that bars openly gay service members from the military. Democrats need her support and that of other Republicans to get the 60 votes they need to take up a defense re-authorization bill that will include the repeal. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, also will support the repeal.

"We expect all who serve to serve with integrity, but under current law gay and lesbian service members may speak about their sexual orientation only at the risk of being discharged from performing the duties they have trained hard to carry out," she said. "America is the loser when it denies those who are willing to make the great sacrifices demanded of our men and women in uniform the opportunity do so on grounds of sexual orientation."

However, Murkowski's support of the repeal is conditional. She won't vote for the bill unless Democrats grant Republicans the opportunity to submit and debate amendments.

"This is a weighty, policy-laden bill that normally takes several weeks to debate and amend," Murkowski said. "If the majority attempts to push it through allowing little or no debate or votes on amendments, I will be inclined to oppose those efforts."

By Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

Jon Voight would vote Sarah Palin for president and says she "saved Alaska" by quitting her post as governor, the Oscar-winner said Friday in Anchorage.

When Palin stepped down she was besieged by "nonsense lawsuits" that prevented her from governing, Voight said in an interview with the Daily News. He's in town to shoot a small-budget thriller.

"What she did was she took the target and moved it," said Voight, 71. "She took it away from Alaska. Great. She did a great service there. And smart as hell."

A self-described "Constitutional conservative" and an outspoken critic of President Obama, Voight said he followed the Alaska U.S. Senate race and related to tea party candidate Joe Miller.

"I understood his point of view and I probably agreed with it," Voight said. "It was an interesting drama."

He talked at length on Palin. Here are a few excerpts:

(Please forgive the lousy lighting and composition -- I sometimes bring a camera and record video while jotting notes for a print story, just in case there's a clip or two I can quickly edit and share on one of our blogs.)

Read more of the Voight interview -- including whether his political views have been bad for business in Hollywood -- in this Q&A.

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. –

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, on Monday called on Republican Joe Miller to drop his legal challenge to the Senate election, saying a drawn-out court suit is "certain to fail." Begich also said he's concerned Miller's continued legal challenge could deny Alaska full representation in the U.S. Senate when the new Congress resumes in January.

After a hand count of ballots, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski's write-in campaign is ahead by 10,328 votes. That lead narrows to 2,169 after subtracting the votes challenged by Miller's campaign. Miller has asked a judge to establish a standard of review for the ballots, as well as a possible recount.

Miller told The Associated Press that he's "more convinced than ever that this is the right fight, not for Joe Miller but for Alaska."

Begich, though, said it's time for Miller "to put Alaska interests ahead of personal ambition and allow the State of Alaska to certify Lisa Murkowski as the winner."

"Failure to certify the election could prevent Senator Murkowski from being sworn into office in early January when other new senators officially take office," Begich said.

Begich also said he thought that as the mood in Washington has shifted away from earmarking, "it's vital that Alaska have both senators putting our unique needs first and fighting for our state."

"Without both senators, Alaska's interests will be at risk on critical issues from energy development to job creation and reducing the national debt in a way that's fair to Alaskans," he said.

UPDATE: Miller had this response, late Monday: Begich should "get back to work and stop wasting time in D.C."

"What is vital is that the people of Alaska can trust the election process," he said. "The Miller campaign has stated repeatedly, all we want is for all the votes to be counted in accordance with Alaska statutes."

"Personal ambition has nothing to do with the legal issues," Miller said, adding that "such a statement reflects a serious misunderstanding if not a complete ignorance about the election process and the issues involved."

He also said Begich "would better serve Alaska by working on a budget that does not bankrupt our country instead of fiddling away while Rome burns."

And campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto offered this final salvo: "It should be of great concern that Mark Begich, who is so aligned with President Obama's failed Big Government policies, feels so anxious to make sure Lisa Murkowski stands by his side in the Senate."

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

After a decade in the same quarters, Rep. Don Young is moving to a new office within the Rayburn House Office Building.

The Alaska Republican decided this year to enter the annual lottery for new, upgraded digs. Based on his seniority – he was just re-elected to his 20th term -- Young snagged one of two "super suites" available. He'll be moving up two floors, to 2314 Rayburn House Office Building.

On busy days, Young noted, the old office got cramped, forcing meetings to occasionally be held in the hallways.

"I like for my office to be a bit of a home away from home for visiting Alaskans and a place where they feel welcome," Young said. "I hope that this new, more spacious, and comfortable office will enhance the experience for our visitors and encourage even more people to come visit us."

And yes, the bearskin that greeted visitors when they first entered his old office will loom over the entrance of the new office, too, said spokeswoman Meredith Kenny. They've also unearthed what Kenny described as "really great pieces of history" from Young's tenure in office. Those pieces will be posted on the congressman's website in the coming week.

The office phone number will remain the same: (202) 225-5765. The Washington D.C. office will be closed Monday while his staff sets it up.

From Lisa Demer in Anchorage --

House Speaker Mike Chenault said Thursday he has met with both of the legislators who walked out of the GOP-led majority caucus that runs the state House and told them they had a lot of work to do before being allowed back in.

Republican Reps. Charisse Millett of Anchorage and Kyle Johansen of Ketchikan had separate sit-downs Wednesday with Chenault at the Legislative Information Office in Anchorage to find out what they needed to do to rejoin, the speaker said.

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Alaska's Republican Rep. Don Young was among just two Republicans who voted Thursday not to censure Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., who was found guilty by an ethics panel last month of faced 11 counts of financial and fundraising misconduct.

The House voted 333-79 to censure Rangel, the most severe punishment the House of
Representatives can dole out to one of its own, short of expulsion.

A special trial-like ethics subcommittee panel in the House last month found Rangel, 80, guilty of failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets, improper use of several rent-controlled apartments in his Harlem district, questionable fundraising efforts for a City College of New York center that bears his name, and failing to pay taxes on his Dominican Republic property.

Young was joined by Republican Rep. Peter King of New York in siding with Rangel. The two were among just three Republicans also to vote for an amendment that would have lightened the punishment to a rebuke, rather than censure. Ron Paul of Texas joined them in that vote.

Young told his spokeswoman Meredith Kenny that he has "never voted to censure anyone."

"It should be up to the voters, not up to the Congress," he said.

Young himself is no stranger to public condemnation by his peers. In 2008, he took to the floor of the House of Representatives to explain a secretive transportation earmark that so angered fellow lawmakers they called on the Justice Department to investigate it.

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

The Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Gulf of Mexico will remain closed to offshore oil and gas drilling through 2017, the Interior Department said, in a major recalibration of the nation's offshore drilling priorities following this spring's catastrophic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Obama administration will continue to review the only pending project in Alaska's Beaufort Sea, and it could proceed, but only after a re-evaluation of the safety procedures and environmental consequences, including spill response in the Arctic. Shell's planned drilling of exploratory wells in the shallow water Arctic could go forward but "with utmost caution," Salazar said.

Salazar said he recognized that "cautious, limited exploratory activities can help develop critical information about the Arctic and its resources," but added that any exploratory activities in the region "must be conducted safely and with strong oversight."

The revisions do not have an effect on areas of the western Gulf of Mexico that currently are under development or planned for leasing. But they are a concession to what the government learned from the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 people and fouled the Gulf of Mexico, Salazar acknowledged

"As a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill we learned a number of lessons, most importantly that we need to proceed with caution and focus on creating a more stringent regulatory regime," Salazar said. "Our revised strategy lays out a careful, responsible path for meeting our nation's energy needs while protecting our oceans and coastal communities."

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said he welcomed the news, which he heard form Salazar Wednesday before the official announcement.

"This decision to clear the way for responsible oil and gas in Alaska’s resource-rich offshore waters is great news for our state and the nation," Begich said. "It's unfortunate the development was side-lined by this spring's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but I’m pleased the Obama administration took a hard look and made the right decision."

The announcement today reverses much of the Obama administration's original plan for offshore development, which came just weeks before the Deepwater Horizon explosion. That would have allowed new drilling off Virginia's shoreline and portions of the Atlantic seaboard. It also potentially could have opened the door to exploration in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off the Florida's coastline.

At the time, the White House also announced it supports development of some oil and gas leases in Arctic waters off Alaska's coast but that it wouldn't allow drilling in the federal waters near Bristol Bay.

There are no planned lease sales for Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas or the Cook Inlet, but they will continue with planning and studies for possible future sales in those areas, Salazar said.

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. –

Both of Alaska's senators cast votes this morning against a proposed moratorium on earmarks, saying the state still has critical infrastructure needs that are best served by such appropriations.

"I am committed to addressing Alaska’s enormous infrastructure needs and will continue to support requests from Alaskans for community-backed investments in public buildings, roads, ports and other projects and programs that create jobs, strengthen our communities and keep our economy moving," said Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, called the vote "long on bravado but short on substance." The rest of the Republican Senate conference voted earlier this month on its own earmark moratorium, but Murkowski didn't support that, either.

"We recognize that we need to stop out-of-control spending, but we need to make sure that any action we take actually translates into spending and deficit reduction rather than just messaging," she said.

The earmark moratorium, which failed 56-39, was an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and would have covered 2011, 2012, and 2013. Including Murkowski, eight Republicans voted against the moratorium. Seven Democrats voted for it.

The amendment was to a broader food safety bill that increases Food and Drug Administration inspections of food processing facilities and forces producers to recall tainted foods. It does not cover meat, poultry or processed eggs, which are inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Both Begich and Murkowski voted for the overall food safety bill, too, which passed 73-25. Only Republicans voted against the bill.

From David Hulen in Anchorage --

Alaska Republican Party chairman Randy Ruedrich e-mailed party members today criticizing the Joe Miller campaign and supporters for "unfounded concerns and inaccurate claims" about ballot-counting in the U.S. Senate race.

The state party, and Ruedrich, supported Miller after his upset victory over Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the August primary, but last week declared her the winner and began calling for Miller to end his campaign.

Today, Ruedrich backed up Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who oversees the Division of Elections and yesterday defended the way the state handled the election and the write-in count.

What Ruedrich said:

From Lisa Demer in Anchorage --

Did anyone but me notice the parallels between the finalists in Dancing with the Stars and the candidates in the U.S. Senate race?

There were the Sarah Palin-backed candidates -- daughter Bristol on the dancing stage, tea party favorite Joe Miller in the voting booth.

There were the jovial runners-up, Kyle Massey in DWTS and Scott McAdams, the Democrat in the Senate race.

And then the winners, both skinny ladies in their 50s: Dirty Dancing actress Jennifer Grey, and long shot GOP write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski.

Both contests had their share of conspiracy theories and allegations of voting improprieties.

In the Senate race, the rumblings aren't over. While Murkowski has claimed victory, Miller is challenging the count in court. But on the dancing show, the controversy ended once the talented Grey was declared the winner.

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said Wednesday that he thinks Joe Miller should give up his challenge to the Alaska Senate election.

Coleman knows a little something about challenging Senate election results: he contested the 2008 result in Minnesota for eight months before a state Supreme Court ruling against him forced him to concede to Democrat Al Franken.

"I understand his concern. But I'll just be very straightforward here. I think that race is over. The counting's been done. I'm not sure there's anything that would change that," Coleman told Steve Thomma of the McClatchy Washington Bureau today during a taped interview with C-SPAN's Newsmakers program. The show airs Sunday.

"At a certain point in time you have to have some finality in these things," Coleman says.

"Without criticizing Joe Miller, I would offer him advice. I think it's the same advice that Fred Thompson and others have offered recently. It should be time to move on."

Miller is contesting the 2010 election result in which he was apparently defeated by Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

"I understand Joe's frustration, I'm listening to what he's saying, he's saying well they didn't use the same standards. There were standards used to count ballots that weren’t counted on election night that are now being counted. I had some of those concerns in Minnesota in a much, much closer race," says Coleman, who is weighing a run for chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Coleman says he could have kept his challenge going even longer by taking his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. He says he decided against that, and that Miller should do the same now, long before reaching that stage.

"There's not much that you can gain by extending the process. It's been extended," Coleman says.

"They’ve done now this count of absentee ballots, probably time to move on rather than him initiating another legal proceeding."

From David Hulen in Anchorage --

On Wednesday morning we'll be changing over the commenting system on all of the ADN blogs, including this one, from the current system (Pluck) to the one we've been using for regular story comments the past couple of months (Disqus).

We don't expect big problems, and hopefully, you've gotten used to the new system by now.

One big drawback: We'll lose all of the previous comments. To all of you who've taken the time to post comments, we're sorry about that. But with the switchover, there's really no way to avoid it. We do think the new system is an improvement over the old one.

Here's our FAQ on how Disqus works -- and also some tips for avoiding and fixing problems that might come up while using it.

As always, thanks for reading and let us know if you see problems.

Airport security, Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

From Erika Bolstad in Washington –

They're frequent fliers, too, so I asked Alaska’s congressional delegation what they think of the TSA's new intensive screening procedures.

About 70 airports have now installed walk-through scanners that reveal graphic contours of passengers' bodies to the TSA agents, and emit small doses of radiation. Anyone who refuses the scans has to go through a full pat-down body search.

From David Hulen in Anchorage --

The Republican Party of Alaska issued a statement late this afternoon calling the U.S. Senate election for Lisa Murkowski, and calling on challenger Joe Miller to "to respect the will of the voters and end his campaign in a dignified manner."

The party strongly backed Miller after he won the Republican primary in August, and didn't support Murkowski when she later launched her write-in campaign.

Here's today's statement:

ALASKA REPUBLICANS RESPOND TO SENATE RACE RESULTS

This campaign season has been trying on Alaska’s citizens. In addition to the normal drama that elections bring, Alaskan’s have lost their two greatest senior statesmen in Wally Hickel and Ted Stevens. “Alaskans need to begin coming to terms with all that has happened,” said Ruedrich. “This was a free and fair election. It is now time to look forward. We call on Joe Miller to respect the will of the voters and end his campaign in a dignified manner. We have every expectation that Joe will do the right thing.”

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Republican Joe Miller appeared on FOX News Channel's "Your World" this afternoon, after the Associated Press called the Alaska Senate race for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

On whether he wants a recount: "Well, we may. We may ask for a hand count of our ballots as well. That was the benefit she got. We’ll wait and see when these numbers finally sort out here at the end of the week."

"The voters in the state of Alaska expect there to be integrity in the process; we are going to pursue that."

On whether the race is over: "It’s never over until the count is done. I would encourage people to recognize that 255,000 votes were cast in the US Senate race and right now what we have is about a 2000 vote difference. Less than one percent."

"Obviously, I am less cautiously optimistic than I was before. We owe it to the voters of the state of Alaska to continue the count to make sure it’s done properly to ensure there is integrity as part of the process."

On the argument that he would not win even allowing for the 1000 ballots that have not been counted: "The process that has gone down so far has been a hand count of the write in ballots. There’s not been any hand count of the other ballots. The other ballots have all gone through a machine count process. The machine count historically has had inaccuracies involved in it. We want to make sure we do what we said we were going to do last week, and that is wait for those military ballots to come in, we’ll evaluate at that time. We want to make sure going forward that the state of Alaska imposes the statutory standard. That we don’t end up having the same sort of thing this race, with an unelected bureaucrat making the call."

From Erika Bolstad in Washington –

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich has been named chairman of the U.S. Senate's Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, taking over from Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

The 15-member steering committee is made up mostly of the chairs of major Senate committees. It's dedicated to making connections between Senate Democrats and community leaders from across the nation. The committee hosts meetings with advocates, policy experts, civic groups and elected officials to develop and promote the Democratic agenda in the Senate.

From Sean Cockerham in Juneau --

Update, 5:30 p.m.

The Division of Elections just finished reviewing write-in ballots for the day and has now gone through 72 percent of the precincts in Alaska.

The results haven't changed much: Nearly 98 percent of the write-ins are going to Lisa Murkowski. Over 90 percent of Murkowski's votes are unchallenged, as Joe Miller's observers made fewer challenges today than previous days.

The Miller campaign has successfully challenged just 1.5 percent of the 69,249 write-in ballots that have been reviewed.

It looks as though the Miller campaign needs to disqualify 12 percent of the write-in votes for Murkowski in order to win the election. And that's not happening. Even if Miller's lawsuit to toss out the misspelled votes succeeds, Murkowski could still wind up with enough votes to win.

Update, 2:20 p.m.

Murkowski campaign manager Kevin Sweeney said he likes the results of the count but doesn't plan on claiming victory before Nov. 17. "I think that it's fair to Alaskan voters for every vote to be counted before one side claims victory," Sweeney said.

The review of write-in ballots will continue through the weekend, with absentee counts next week. All Absentee ballots had to be postmarked by election day but have until Nov. 17 to arrive.

The Murkowski camp is obviously confident.

Ben Ginsberg, the election law expert flown up by Murkowski to advise on the count, told me that he's going home tonight.

"This is in good hands and the outcome looks pretty obvious," said Ginsberg, a top lawyer for George W. Bush in the 2000 Florida recount.

The Miller team strongly disagrees with that, and hopes its lawsuit to toss out misspelled ballots will turn things around.

But there have been fewer ballot challenges by the Miller campaign so far today than we've seen the past couple of days.

There had been lot of Murkowski complaints that perfectly spelled ballots were being challenged and Murkowski observers said they are seeing less of that happening today (although it is still happening, I just saw some examples.)

Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said there was no message to observers to challenge fewer ballots. He suggested that the fewer challenges seen this morning could be just a coincidence, rather than a trend that will continue.
Original Post

The review of write-in ballots continues to go Lisa Murkowski's way with nearly 57 percent of the precincts counted.

Murkowski is still getting almost 98 percent of the write-ins.

More than 90 percent are unchallenged for her. The Miller campaign challenged an additional 7.7 percent of Murkowski votes, but was overruled by Elections Director Gail Fenumiai. Those are "counted but challenged" and could go to court.

It appears as though the Miller campaign needs to disqualify 12 percent of the write-in votes for Murkowski in order to win the election, and that's not happening so far.

The Miller campaign's ballot observers have successfully challenged 1.48 percent of the 56,088 write-in ballots reviewed.