The Senate Race in Alaska

Scott McAdams, Lisa Murkowski, and Joe Miller. Photo via cbsnews.com

Lisa Murkowski, the incumbent Alaskan Senator, was originally in the running to be the republican nominee for the Senate. Joe Miller won the republican primary, some think because he was endorsed by former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin.

A little bit of history here: Lisa's father, Frank Murkowski, was the governor right before Sarah Palin. Palin defeated Frank Murkowski to become the governor. Before Frank Murkowski left office, he appointed his daughter Lisa to a vacant Senate seat.

Everyone expected that with Palin's endorsement, Miller would win the primary and then have an easy win against the democratic nominee because of Alaska's republican history. But a couple of weeks ago, Lisa Murkowski decided not to stop at losing the primary, and she became a write-in candidate for the Senate seat that she had now holds. Many republicans are not happy that Murkowski was still going to run, including Sarah Palin. They expect she might divide the republican voters and leave an opening for the democratic nominee, Scott McAdams.

One big challenge Murkowski faces is getting everyone to spell her name right. It is a fairly well known name in Alaska, since her dad was governor and she has been in the Senate a few years already. The only other time a person won a major office as a write in candidate was in 1954, when Strom Thurmond won a Senate seat for South Carolina. And Strom Thurmond is an unusual name too, right?