From Sean Cockerham in Juneau --

Update, 5:02 p.m.

Results just came in. The Division of Elections is done reviewing write-in ballots for almost half the precincts in Alaska and is still counting nearly 98 percent of them for Lisa Murkowski.

The Division reports 89.78 percent of the write-ins are unchallenged for Murkowski, a number that's held steady during the count.

The Division of Elections overturned challenges by the Miller campaign on another 8 percent of the ballots and counted them for Murkowski. Miller hopes the courts will reverse that.

Just 1.52 percent of the 45,132 write-in ballots reviewed so far have been successfully challenged by Miller ballot observers.

The review of write-in ballots is will continue tomorrow.

Update, 4:39 p.m.

From Sean Cockerham in Juneau –

Joe Miller campaign advisor Floyd Brown just came out and suggested the election was tainted by voter fraud and intimidation, but wouldn’t any provide examples of where that happened.

“The stories of manipulation are just almost mind boggling,” Brown said at a press conference called this afternoon by the Miller campaign.

The only evidence that the Miller campaign would provide was an affidavit from a poll watcher in Fairbanks, Rocky MacDonald, who complained that the ballot box at the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds “was unsecured in that the electoral judges had access to the inside of the ballot box with a key.”

“The electoral judges opened the ballot box several times to clear jammed ballots and rearrange by hand the ballots in the box to make space for new ballots,” MacDonald wrote.

MacDonald also complained the ballot counter on the box was inoperable from the time the polls opened until 8:30 a.m., and that there was only one ballot box at that precinct.

Brown suggested malfeasance went far beyond that, though.

He stopped short of saying the Miller campaign was alleging voter fraud but said talk radio hosts and the campaign have heard from many people alleging fraud and intimidation.

Brown told the story of a fisherman who was told to take a political sign off his boat or “the major corporate entity that takes his fish would no longer take it.” Brown wouldn’t provide the name of the fisherman, the town where he lived or the name of the corporation that made the alleged threat.

“A lot of these people are afraid to give their names because of this history of voter intimidation,” Brown told the press.

Brown said the Miller campaign has set up a hotline and hopes to make public in the coming days examples of voter fraud.

Update, 2:14 p.m.

Floyd Brown, the man responsible for the "Willie Horton" television ad that helped derail the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign in 1988, has signed up for the Joe Miller campaign.

Brown is here in Juneau today for the write-in ballot review and he has called a 3:30 p.m. press conference to discuss "the direction of the Miller campaign heading into the weekend." Brown is being described by the campaign as "advisor to Joe Miller."

I wrote a profile of Brown a few years ago.

He created a a 1-900 line in 1992 so callers could hear edited excerpts of telephone conversations between Bill Clinton and Arkansas lounge singer Gennifer Flowers. He's also founder of Citizens United, whose Supreme Court case led to the allowance of unlimited donations from corporations and unions to certain types of political committees.

The Citizens United case opened the door for Alaskans Standing Together, the consortium of Native corporations that spent more than $1 million to help Lisa Murkowski's write-in effort.

Brown now runs the ImpeachObamaCampaign.com Web site.

Update, 12:37 p.m.

We just received the first results of today's count and the trend is similar to what we saw yesterday, with Lisa Murkowski receiving nearly 98 percent of the write in ballots cast.

The Alaska Division of Elections has now reviewed the writes-in for 32 percent of the precincts. More than 89 percent of the 30,023 write-in votes cast are unchallenged for Murkowski.

Another 8.4 percent of the writes-in were challenged by Miller campaign observers but counted for Murkowski by Elections Director Gail Fenumiai.Those include examples of ballots that appear to be filled out correctly but were still challenged (see below). The Miller campaign challenges of those votes still stand, with Miller hoping the courts will rule on them.

They are being segregated in boxes with the status "counted but challenged."

Just 1.5 percent of the write-in ballots have been successfully challenged by the Miller ballot observers, with Fenumiai agreeing with Miller that they should not be counted.

Original post

The second day of reviewing write-in ballots has begun, and the Miller campaign observers are aggressively challenging ballots.

Often the challenged ballots (the ones pictured above are examples) appear to be filled out correctly, including the spelling of Lisa Murkowski's name.

"All we're doing right now is identifying any ballots that are questionable, have any deviation from the standard," said Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto.

The Miller campaign expects the courts to have the final say.

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

Voters who spelled Lisa Murkowski's name wrong on the Nov. 2 ballot may have done so in protest -- not because they want Murkowski to win -- argues the incumbent's Senate race rival, Joe Miller.

Live election results

From Sean Cockerham in Juneau --

Counting ballots in Juneau today.

Update, 5:18 p.m.

We just received the full results of today's write in ballot count, and it is looking positive for Lisa Murkowski's campaign.

The Division of Elections reports that it went through the write-in ballots for nearly 20 percent of the precincts in Alaska today.

More than 89 percent of the write-ins were unchallenged for Murkowski.

There were another 8.5 percent of the ballots that were challenged by Miller campaign observers but Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai ruled they should be counted for Murkowski. Those challenges could end up being decided in court.

Miller campaign observers successfully challenged only 1.44 percent of the 19,203 ballots that were counted throughout the day.

There ended up being 164 write-in votes for people other than Murkowski.

Two people wrote in Joe Miller.

Update, 4:49 p.m.

Some of the ballots being challenged by Miller campaign observers appear pretty clearly to be correctly spelled "Lisa Murkowski," with the oval filled in. Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai said she's seeing that happen "a lot."

I asked Miller campaign observers about it, and they said there is no intent to challenge ballots that are properly filled out.

They said that their challenges are based on spelling, legibility and if there might be something added to the ballot line (like someone who writes in "Lisa Murkowski-Republican.")

Update, 3:26 p.m.

Murkowski campaign manager Kevin Sweeney likes what he's seeing. "So far things look really good for us," said Sweeney, who is here in Juneau monitoring the ballot count.

Over 89 percent of the write-in ballots counted so far are unchallenged for Murkowski. An additional 8.9 percent of the ballots were challenged by Miller campaign observers but then accepted by Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai.

Miller needs to keep about 12 percent of the write-ins from going for Murkowski.

Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said he's hopeful the courts will throw out the ballots challenged by Miller observers but accepted by the Division of Elections. The Miller campaign has filed suit trying to keep misspelled votes from being counted. "We'll see how this all plays out," DeSoto said.

Update, 1:46 p.m.

The first batch of numbers is out and they show 89 percent of the write-ins counted so far were perfect for Lisa Murkowski.

Out of 7,638 write-ins counted just 67 wrote in someone other than Murkowski.

The Division of Elections says 6,804 votes were unchallenged for Murkowski, representing 89.08 percent of ballots counted.

Another 678 of the ballots were challenged but the challenge was overruled by the Division. Those are considered to be "challenged but counted," and will be reviewed in the expected recount with the courts having the final say.

There were only 89 successful challenges of Murkowski votes. That represents just 1.17 percent of the ballots counted.

There was one write in vote for Joe Miller.

Somebody named Sid Hill received five write in votes. That puts Hill in second place to Murkowski among the write in voters.

UPDATE: Hill may be the familiar road-side activist who was arrested after a scuffle with security guards in August at the Alaska State Fair.

Update, 1:03 p.m.

I just spoke to Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai, who told me today's count is going much slower than expected.

She said the counters have made it through about 31 precincts and had hoped to finish 129 precincts by the end of the day.

"I don't think we're going to get through them," Fenumiai said.

Fenumiai said that means the count of write-in ballots could go on for five days. The Division of Elections had hoped it would be three days.

Update, 12:49 p.m.

Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who oversees Alaska elections, said the count of write-in ballots appears to be going smoothly up until this point. “Unless directed otherwise by the courts we will continue counting write-in ballots today," Campbell said.

Joe Miller has filed suit in federal court trying to get the state to stop counting ballots with what the Division of Elections calls “minor misspellings” of Lisa Murkowski’s name. Miller argues state law is clear that misspellings shouldn’t be counted and that the state shouldn’t be weighing “voter intent.”

Campbell, speaking to reporters in Juneau today, said he was unconvinced.

“I have been consistent from the beginning in stating that minor misspellings of a candidate’s name will be counted. That continues to be my position today and we are proceeding with the ballot count under that direction,” Campbell said. “We have a number of instances where the Alaska courts have weighed in on this issue in favor of not disenfranchising voters.”

Those court cases, however, were not about write-in ballots. A court has never ruled on whether voters can misspell write-in ballots in Alaska and still have the vote count.

“The state of Alaska has never had an experience like this, with so many write-in votes,” Campbell said.

Here's what the law says:

"A vote for a write-in candidate, other than a write-in vote for governor and lieutenant governor, shall be counted if the oval is filled in for that candidate and 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."

Update, 12:15 p.m.

There have been questions from the ballot observers about the criteria Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai is using to rule on the Miller campaign challenges of Murkowski ballots.

Here's what Fenumiai told me:

"If I can pronounce the name by the way it's spelled, that's the standard I'm using."

Update, 11:42 a.m.

The counting has continued throughout the morning here in Juneau.

Chip Thoma, observing for the Alaska Democratic Party, tells me that around 98 percent of the write-in ballots cast appear to be for Lisa Murkowski. Roughly 10 percent of those are being challenged by the Miller campaign on spelling grounds.

But Thoma said the Division of Elections is overruling 90 percent of those challenges. The Miller campaign than re-challenges. Those ballots will get another review during the expected recount (with the courts having the final say.)

Thoma said he was struck by the large percentage of write-ins that were perfectly cast for Murkowski, with the oval filled in and her first and last names spelled correctly.

"She did an effective job," Thoma said of Murkowski's campaign effort.

Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto is here and doesn't seem too concerned. He said he thinks the process is going well.

Update, 10:27 a.m.

It varies by table and election observer how many ballots are being challenged. In one table, counting a Douglas Island voting precinct, of the 282 Murkowski votes 13 were challenged.

Elections Director Gail Fenumiai took a look and ruled that all but two of those should be counted for Murkowski -- put in a category of "counted but challenged."

Fenumiai ruled that ballots spelled "Misskowski" and "Morcowski" should not be counted. The Murkowski campaign observer objected to that decision and it will be reviewed.

There were also write-in ballots for "Frank Morcowski" and "Gwen" that were, of course, not counted for Lisa Murkowski.

There were similar results a table that was counting a Mendenhall Valley precinct. There were 322 write-ins for Murkowski.

The Miller campaign challenged 28 of those and Fenumiai overruled the challenge on all but five of those. One challenge overturned was for a ballot that said "Lisa, Murkowski."

Update, 9:58 a.m.

Chip Thoma of Juneau, who is here observing for the Alaska Democratic Party, tells me that the Miller campaign observers appear to be challenging about 10 percent of the write-in ballots.

"Most of them are minor misspellings," Thoma said.

He said the misspellings tend to be in the first syllable of Lisa Murkowski's name. Some people wrote "Mercowski" or "Mircowski."

Thoma said most people appeared to have written in both Murkowski's first and last names, although he saw one vote for "Nancy" Murkowski (Lisa's mother.)

Thoma said the Democratic Party decided to observe the count just to make sure it goes smoothly, even though the battle is between Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Joe Miller.

Original post

The count of write-ins to decide Alaska's Senate race has started in Juneau, with observers from the Joe Miller and Lisa Murkowski campaigns watching closely as the ballots are sorted.

There are 15 tables with two election workers each going through the ballots.

Each table has two observers in front of it, one from each campaign.

Attorneys from both camps are also walking from table to table and observing, including Ben Ginsberg, a top lawyer for George W. Bush during the Bush vs. Gore 2000 recount in Florida. He's here for the Murkowski campaign.

Many Alaska and national media are gathered at the old Alaska Litho building in Thane outside of downtown Juneau for the count. The warehouse-like building has stood empty and for sale but was converted into counting headquarters.

It's not clear when we'll get the first results. Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai said some results might be provided during the day -- or she might release them this evening.

More than 90,000 write-in ballots are to be opened here over the next few day to see what name was written and how it was spelled. Joe Miller currently has 11,333 fewer votes than the write-ins and the question is how many of them are for Lisa Murkowski. Miller has filed a federal lawsuit in an attempt to stop the Alaska Division of Elections from counting ballots where Murkowski's name is misspelled.

Here's how the count works:

There are five boxes in front of the ballot counters. The first one is for ballots that aren't for any write-in candidate. The second is for blank ballots, or one the oval isn't filled in.

The third box is for ballots where the oval is filled in, the voter correctly spelled "Lisa Murkowski," and there is no challenge from either campaign. The Murkowski camp hopes there are enough ballots in the third box to win outright.

The fourth box is the one at play in Miller's lawsuit. It's for ballots where the oval is filled in and the "name written appears to be a variation or misspelling of Murkowski or Lisa Murkowski."

The fifth box is for ballots where the oval is filled in but the voter wrote the name of someone other than Lisa Murkowski.

See the live results here

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

Republican Reps. Kyle Johansen of Ketchikan and Charisse Millett of Anchorage have quit the House majority caucus after losing an apparent power struggle. They’re not joining the Democratic minority and are on their own going into the legislative session.

The Republican-led majority organized over the weekend, with Kenai Republican Rep. Mike Chenault returning as House Speaker. Chenault said Johansen and Millett, who have a close personal relationship, left the caucus when she didn’t get the jobs she wanted.

“Representative Millett wanted to be named as the chair of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, but her colleagues didn’t choose her after two rounds of votes,” Chenault said in a written statement put out by the House majority. “Representative Johansen won re-election by his colleagues to return as Majority Leader, but proposed a deal to give up his position and give Rep. Millett a seat on the House Finance Committee. The caucus did not like that idea, so both representatives walked out on the organization.”

We'll post a response from Millett and Johansen once we get one.

Kodiak Republican Alan Austerman replaces Johansen as majority leader.

Republican Rep. Craig Johnson of Anchorage will join the House leadership as the rules chair, who decides what bills make it to the floor.

Haines Republican Rep. Bill Thomas is the new co-chair of the House Finance committee, and will be in charge of the state operating budget.

Anchorage Republican Rep. Mike Hawker, who previously had that role, has chosen to take a reduced role this year as he undergoes treatment for an aggressive prostrate cancer. Hawker will be the chair of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee.

Chugiak Republican Rep. Bill Stoltze will return as the other co-chair of the House Finance Committee, in charge of the capital budget.

Juneau Democratic Rep. Beth Kerttula will return as the leader of the House Minority.

Monday night update: This is the version headed for tomorrow's paper, with reaction from the construction company.

By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com

Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller says a Washington-based construction company may have broken federal campaign rules when a supervisor at a military construction site encouraged workers to vote for Sen. Lisa Murkowski at a mandatory safety meeting.

A video of the meeting, held the day before Murkowski’s apparent write-in win over Miller, appeared on Fox News’ “Huckabee” show over the weekend.

The clip shows Mike Ritchie, a project manager for Osborne Construction Co., talking to workers at a weekly safety meeting, according to an Osborne executive.

The company is working as a sub-contractor on a roughly $230 million effort to build about 350 new housing units and renovate another 100 at Eielson Air Force Base.

In the video, Ritchie tells workers that Murkowski has been fortunate to gain a seat on the Senate appropriations subcommittee that steers federal funding to Alaska — a role neither of her opponents would achieve if elected.

She is also a fierce advocate of oil and gas development, he said.
“I’m not telling you who to vote for,” Ritchie said, according to a transcript of the video. “But what I would like you to do is think about that and if you agree with me, vote for her.”

The project manager told workers that if they vote for Murkowski, who ran as a write-in candidate, they have to spell her name right and fill in the oval.

The Miller campaign says the speech amounts to a publicly funded political rally and may break an FEC regulation that forbids federal contractors from contributing to candidates for federal office, and taking company time to advocate for a candidate can count as a contribution.

“This raises still more concerns about the corrupting influence of federal contracting in Alaska and the role federal tax money illegally played in influencing this election,” Miller said in a statement.

Osborne vice president Jake Jacobson said he saw nothing in the video that breaks any rules against federal contractors spending on campaigns.

“I’m aware of that statute, but I don’t think this activity comes any place close to it,” Jacobson said.

“At no point do I see him saying, 'Go vote for Murkowski or (Gov. Sean Parnell) or anybody else,’” he said.

Jacobson said the company encourages workers to vote for whomever they like. “We think that’s an important civic responsibility.”

Ritchie is a shareholder and “very senior official” with the company, he said. Jacobson said the decision to discuss Murkowski’s candidacy with workers was likely “a collaborative decision with management of the company.”

Jacobson said he didn’t know who shot the video, which shows Ritchie speaking to employees from the bed of a pick-up.

Alleged violations of federal campaign rules are investigated by the Federal Elections Commission — typically following a complaint — and can result in civil fines.

Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto did not respond to questions about whether the campaign had filed a formal FEC complaint.

Told of Ritchie’s comments, former Federal Election Commission attorney Kenneth Gross said the remarks were essentially the same as telling workers to vote for Murkowski.

Now an attorney for New York-based Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Gross served as head of enforcement for the FEC in the 1980s.

Violating the FEC regulations can lead to penalties, but would not affect the outcome of an election, Gross said in an e-mail.

“The FEC only has the authority to fine,” he said. “It does not have the authority to upset or influence the results of the election, whatever they may be.”

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage –

The campaign for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller has obtained a video that it says shows a federal contractor electioneering for Sen. Lisa Murkowski at a military job site in Fairbanks.

Fox News aired the clip, shot before the election, over the weekend on the “Huckabee” show.

The Miller campaign says it shows a likely violation of federal law.

UPDATE: I'm trying to get a better idea of just who is in the video and where it was shot. Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said in an e-mail that the clip was filmed Nov. 1 -- the day before the election -- at Eielson Air Force Base.

The campaign also describes the project as the North Haven housing development, which is a partnership between the military and Actus Lend Lease to build and renovate homes. A spokeswoman for Actus Lend Lease, however, says the North Haven project is not being built at Eielson -- only on Fort Greely and Fort Wainwright Army posts.

Check back for an update as we try and sort it out.

Here’s the news release the campaign sent early this morning:

The New York Times has an analysis of Alaska's Senate race on its website and is planning to put it on the front page of its paper Sunday. Check it out here.
 

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

The next round of ballot counting won’t officially start until next week in Juneau, but already there’s a fierce post-election legal battle heating up between U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowksi and Republican Joe Miller.

Murkowski announced Friday she has set up a separate campaign account to help pay for next week’s counting of absentee and write-in ballots. She'll be back in Washington on Monday to host a fundraiser for it. The account, known as the Alaska Voter Protection Fund, will operate under the same Federal Election Commission donor limits of regular campaign accounts, said her campaign manager, Kevin Sweeney. There's one exception: people who have already donated the maximum to Murkowski's election campaign also may donate to the legal expense fund.

Miller's campaign had this response to Murkowski's new fund, posted on the social networking site, Twitter: "Bring it on!"

The legal fight will shift next week to Juneau, where more than 83,000 write-in ballots – most, presumably for Murkowski -- must be counted by hand. The write-in candidate is ahead by 13,439 votes over Miller. More than 37,800 absentee, early and questioned ballots remain to be counted, as well, beginning next week. Write-in ballots will be opened in Juneau on Wednesday, Thursday and possibly Friday.

Friday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out an e-mail encouraging donors to assist Miller. The NRSC's main aim is to elect and re-elect Republicans, and until today it was unclear whether it would fully back Miller's post-election fight with Murkowksi, another Republican.

In his e-mail, the chairman of the NRSC, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, warned that both sides "are beginning to lawyer up and prepare for any possible legal fights. Joe needs your help to make sure he has enough money to make it a fair contest."

"We need to get Joe the resources he needs to win the vote count," he wrote. "Because we need Joe to join our fight against Barack Obama. Help ensure that this vote count is conducted fairly."

Murkowski has former Stevens lawyer Tim McKeever heading her team. Also consulting is Ben Ginsberg, a national expert in election law who was involved in the 2000 recount in Florida. Miller is represented by Thomas Van Flein, who also is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's attorney.

Stanley Tom describes how the eroding bank of the Ninglick River is encroaching on the village of Newtok on August 14, 2009. Tom, the village tribal administrator, said he encouraged residents over the VHF radio to vote for Sen. Lisa Murkowski Tuesday.

Readers: What was voting like in your village? Who’d you vote for and why? Send me a note at khopkins@adn.com or call 257-4334.

By Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

No one voted for Republican nominee Joe Miller Tuesday in the eroding, southwest Alaska village of Newtok, population 360.

One person cast a ballot for Democrat Scott McAdams. A couple chose the Libertarian candidate.

The other 98 percent of the votes? All write-ins -- which this year means Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

“I was kind of scared (that) Miller might win,” said Newtok tribal administrator Stanley Tom. The job is similar to being a mayor in other towns. “We made a public announcement over the VHF radio to vote for Lisa Murkowski because she supports the relocation effort."

If the hand count of write-in ballots shows Murkowski has indeed won the U.S. Senate race, villages like Newtok may have made the difference.

The math is striking. Five rural voting districts -- regions that voted to reject Murkowski for senate just six years ago -- gave the Republican incumbent as much as 60 percent of her current lead over Miller.

Miller, who is in second place by 13,400 votes, is losing by about 8,000 votes in these districts alone:

District 6: Interior villages
Write-in: 47 percent
Miller: 34 percent
McAdams: 17 percent

District 37: Aleutians and Bristol Bay
Write-in: 60 percent
Miller: 20 percent
McAdams: 18 percent

District 38: Bethel
Write-in: 74 percent
McAdams: 14 percent
Miller: 9 percent

District 39: Bering Straits
Write-in: 70 percent
McAdams: 17 percent
Miller: 11 percent

District 40: Arctic
Write-in: 64 percent
Miller: 17
McAdams: 17

Fueled by unlimited contributions from Alaska Native corporations and endorsed by the Alaska Federation of Natives, Murkowski’s write-in campaign took as much as 63 percent of the vote in those areas.

She got help on the ground by Alaskans Standing Together, the “Super PAC” of Alaska Native corporations that spent more than $1.26 million to get Murkowski re-elected. The effort included mailing scores of boxes of campaign material to villages across the state, and hiring workers to go door-to-door to hand out brochures and teach people how to vote a write-in ballot for Murkowski, a spokesman said.

The Joe Miller campaign shouldn’t be expecting help from the Federalist Society in his legal fight over the ballot count in the Senate race, the group’s president and CEO said in a statement today.

Miller campaign manager Robert Campbell said in an interview that the conservative lawyers group could get involved to give Miller some help.

“This is incorrect,” Federalist Society CEO Eugene Meyer said in an emailed response today. “The Federalist Society does not engage in any such partisan political activity as a non-profit, educational organization, and it won't be doing so here. It may well be that individual members are involved in some aspect of the campaign or its aftermath, but that is a matter of their own private affairs.”

Miller’s campaign manager also said the National Republican Senatorial Committee would be helping Miller on the ballot count.

The NRSC will not confirm that, though.

The first thing that visitors to Miller's campaign website see is a fundraising solicitation declaring: "It's Not Over Yet! It's a CLIFFHANGER. Help defray the cost of the hand count!"

The Hill reports that Sen. Jim DeMint's political action committee is "currently exploring" how it can help Miller with the fundraising.

Becky Bohrer, The Associated Press --

An attorney for Alaska U.S. Senate hopeful Joe Miller says election workers should not be allowed to use discretion in determining whether a write-in vote counts for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Becky Bohrer, The Associated Press

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski won't attempt to regain her leadership within the GOP conference if she wins re-election.

Her spokesman, Michael Brumas, says her focus will be on retaining her position as ranking member on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Daily News staff and wires --

The Alaska Senate bipartisan majority has replaced state Sen. Johnny Ellis as the majority leader.

The Anchorage Democrat is being replaced by Sen. Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage.

Republican Sen. Gary Stevens of Kodiak remains Senate president.
The legislative session begins Jan. 18.

Half of the 20 Senate seats were on the ballot Tuesday, and the Republican-Democrat split will continue to be 10-10.

In the state House, the Republicans increased their majority as a result of Tuesday’s vote.

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

The Joe Miller campaign handed out 400 tickets to a ballot-watching rally Tuesday night at the Snow Goose, and by the time the candidate arrived in a red-striped tie with his family, there was hardly a place to step on the hardwood floors.

Miller’s tea party-approved message of smaller government and state's rights -- combined with his pro-life social conservatism -- built a loyal following in Alaska over the summer. This was their opportunity, Miller told Alaskans during the campaign, to prevent brankrupting the nation.

Here are campaign speeches from candidates Miller, Murkowski and McAdams.

JOE MILLER speaking to supporters at Snow Goose (Video by Kyle Hopkins, ADN)

SCOTT MCADAMS speaking to supporters at Club Saroya (Video by Richard Mauer, ADN)

LISA MURKOWSKI speaks at Dena'ina Center (Video courtesy CNN)

From Bill White in Anchorage --

Anchorage area students in grades 5-12 cast ballots in their own mock election coordinated by the League of Women Voters of Anchorage.

In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski got 41 percent of the vote from the 9,854 students from 56 schools, Joe Miller got 33 percent and Scott McAdams received 18 percent.

In the U.S. House race, incumbent Rep. Don Young came in first, with 75 percent of the vote against Harry Crawford.

(AP / Ben Margot))

From Elizabeth Bluemink, Erika Bolstad, Lisa Demer, Kyle Hopkins, Richard Mauer and Rosemary Shinohara in Anchorage --

We talked to voters all over Anchorage today, and fanned out to see how the Senate candidates spent Election Day. Here's what we saw, after the jump:

From Erika Bolstad in Anchorage –

UPDATE: Two more polls are out this afternoon, with wildly different numbers.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski's campaign released internal polling that shows she's ahead with 36 percent of the vote to Republican Joe Miller's 34 percent and Scott McAdams' 22 percent. Those numbers shift to 39 percent for Murkowski, 28 percent for Miller and 24 for McAdams when they're weighed for current voter registration, the campaign said. The poll was conducted by Metro Intergroup Communications of Washinton D.C., which polled 400 Alaskans statewide on Saturday and Sunday.

Also, Hays Research of Anchorage released a poll of 502 likely voters that has a puzzling finding: some 22 percent of Alaska voters remain undecided in the race. Last week, Hays had 13 percent listed as undecided in a separate poll.

Their poll has Miller ahead with 27 percent of the vote, McAdams with 26 percent and Murkowski with 25 percent.
Last week, though, it had Murkowski ahead at 34 percent, McAdams at 29 percent, and Miller at 23 percent.

------------------------------------------

Both the campaigns of Republican Joe Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams sought last night and this morning to eke out some good news from a Public Policy Polling poll that shows Miller ahead in the three-way Alaska Senate race.

The PPP poll shows 37 percent of voters surveyed will pick Miller, while 30 percent say they'll plan to vote for Scott McAdams and another 30 percent plan to support Sen. Lisa Murkowski's write-in campaign.

Take a look at the favorable/unfavorable numbers, too: Only 36 percent of respondents have a positive opinion of Miller, while 59 percent view him in a negative light, PPP found. McAdams, the pollsters noted, is "by far the most popular" with 50 percent favorable ratings and only 30 percent seeing him in an unfavorable light. "Voters aren't very enamored with Murkowski either, giving her a 37/53 approval rating," the pollsters said.

From Rosemary Shinohara in Anchorage --

The state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee mailed a flyer to an estimated 1,500 independent and Republican voters in Eagle River last week supporting not the Democrat in the three-way race for a Hillside-Eagle River state Senate seat, but a non-partisan candidate, said state Sen. Johnny Ellis, committee co-chairman.

"Eagle River residents ... We need to elect Phil Dziubinksi...Phil is the True Conservative and he lives right here in Eagle River," says the flyer.

The flyer has become the center of a last-minute conflict between Democratic and Republican party officials. The Alaska Republican Party took statements on the flyer to mean the Democratic Party has withdrawn support for Janet Reiser, the Democrat in the race. The Republican Party sent out a news release Saturday (with an image of the flyer) applauding the Democrats for doing that.

Alaska Democratic Party chair Patti Higgins said today that her party hasn't withdrawn support for Reiser at all.

"The Democratic Party fully supports and endorses Janet Reiser," she said. "I think the flyer was some kind of inside baseball. That would be my guess."
She said she didn't know about the flyer in advance, and hadn't talked to Ellis about it.

Casey Reynolds, spokesman for the Republicans, said the Democratic Party has sent out conflicting information, indicating support for both Reiser and Dziubinski.

"They have to decide."

From Lisa Demer in Anchorage --

A garbled conversation captured by chance on the voice mail of a staff member for U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller is being played up by the campaign as evidence of a local television station’s attempt to create anti-Miller stories, but the station says that’s absurd.

The brouhaha over the errant message, which included a reference to the possibility of child molesters appearing at a Miller rally, was getting national attention Sunday. Sarah Palin said on Fox News that “the CBS reporters, the affiliate in Alaska, conspired to make up stories about Joe Miller. We have the tape.”

The Miller campaign and KTVA Channel 11 agree on the basic narrative of what happened, but disagree strongly on what it means.

Someone with KTVA Channel 11 called Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto Thursday afternoon to discuss the GOP candidate appearing on that evening’s newscast.