E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS From NBC's Pete Williams
A federal judge has lifted a stay that blocked the state from certifying the winner of the state's disputed U.S. Senate election. The state is now free to certify Lisa Murkowski as the winner, and she can join other senators in taking the oath of office Jan. 5th in Washington.
Federal Judge Ralph Beistline also dismissed Republican candidate's Joe Miller's lawsuit, rejecting Miller’s claims that the state's method for tabulating write-in votes violated the federal Constitution. Miller argued that state law required voters to write in a candidate's name precisely, with no abbreviations or misspellings. He challenged the state's interpretation of the law, which allowed votes to be counted despite minor misspellings.
Last week, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the state, holding that the key to interpreting election law is preventing votes from being tossed out if a voter's intent can be determined. The state court said the law doesn't require perfection in how a candidate's name is written.
In his ruling Tuesday dismissing Miller's lawsuit, Judge Beistline called the Alaska law "poorly drafted," and added that, "Wisdom would suggest that the Alaska legislature act to clarify it to avoid similar disputes in the future." Nonetheless, he said the Alaska Supreme Court is the final authority on the meaning of the state's laws.
"This court declines to second-guess the highest court of the state," he said.
Leave a Comment:
Congratulations on your re-election, Senator Murkowski.
...oh, and Sarah Palin, "Waa-waa-waa-waaaaaaaaa!"
Speaking of Waa-waa-...... Did you see the clip from her 'reality' show, where she is hung up on 'refudiate' still?
What a door-knob! Who in their right mind would want that kind of pettiness in charge??
I think Sarah is too busy "going rogue" to worry too much about it.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=going+rogue
It's really hard to get too excited about this, after all, it is the republican vs. the republican. No matter what the eventual legal outcome, they still win.
America has found the Serum for the Venom of the Alaskan Wild-DingBat:
Senator Lisa Murkowski.
We'll have to wait and see just how INDEPENDENT Lisa wants to be.
2010 Midterms - Is this it? {Gee, I can hardly wait for the 2012 elections. lol}
In the meantime, can you believe someone actually understands this?
The Philadelphia Eagles, after their loss to Minnesota tonight, are now locked into the #3 seed in the NFC. The winner of the NFC West winner-take-all match-up on Sunday night between the Seattle Seahawks and the St. Louis Rams will be the #4 seed. The winner of the three-way dance between the Green Bay Packers, the New York Giants, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be the #6 seed and travel to Philadelphia on Wild Card weekend. On that front, the scenarios are still the same. . .the Packers win, they're in. If Green Bay loses and the Giants beat the Washington Redskins, the Giants are in. If both Green Bay and New York lose and the Buccaneers can upset the Saints, then Tampa Bay is in the playoffs.
The #1, #2, and #5 seeds are still a matter of contention. The Atlanta Falcons can make things easy on everyone by winning their game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. If the Falcons get that victory, everything is very easy. . .the Falcons would be the #1 seed, the Chicago Bears would be the #2 seed, and the New Orleans Saints would be the #5 seed.
Should Atlanta lose to the Panthers, however, either New Orleans or Chicago could be the #1 seed. If Atlanta loses and New Orleans defeats the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then New Orleans would jump into the top spot and Chicago would be #2. If the Falcons and Saints both lose and Chicago wins, then Chicago jumps up into the #1 slot, the Falcons will slot in at #2, and New Orleans will stay down at #5.
http://minnesota.sbnation.com/minnesota-vikings/2010/12/29/1901713/updated-updated-nfc-playoff-scenarios-eagles-say-bye-to-bye
______________
Good grief.
Falcons win
Ruh-roh, Joe. Sister Sarah's gonna want her money back. Expect a visit from Todd soon. Wink! You betcha!
The best woman definitely won!
Miller, the losers loser.
Why is Miller the loser? He beat her in the primaries...she's the real loser.
Um...because he lost the election? Please try to keep up, sweetie.
JFK-2112==Please have your parents,a friend or someone that has a clue explain this to you. McCain won the primary but lost the race, therefore McCain is the loser. Now read slowly Miller won the primary but LOST the election by over 10,000 votes which in my book makes him a BIG LOSER.
I believe the Democrats in the Senate will be able to forge some coalitions with Snowe, Collins, Murkowski, and possibly even Corker and other mainstream Republicans who frankly realize they can't go 'right' enough to satisfy the Tea Party--and why bother?
In fact, Murkowski has shown that the way to re-election is to be serviceable in behalf of our country. The center left and center right will be alive and well in the next two years.
Final thought: Republicans would be far wiser to run a Murkowski rather than a politically damaged Palin. McCain would have done better with Lisa, Olympia or Susan on the ballot.
"Why is Miller the loser?" WTF? Is he being sworn into office on January 5, 2011? NO?
What more do you need to know, before you even begin to understand [JFK-2112]?
Oh yeah..."He beat her in the primaries." (Guess Sarah clubbed you in the head too)!