Joe Miller is hoping once again to snatch a U.S. Senate seat from incumbent liberal Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, but this time he’s running as a Libertarian.
Miller announced earlier in September that he will again attempt to unseat Murkowski who lost the Republican nomination to him in the last cycle six years ago, but regrouped with a write-in campaign that led her to victory.
Speaking on the Mark Levin Show Friday, Miller said:
I’m running against the most liberal Republican senator who’s up for re-election – she voted with Obama in the last Congress 72 percent of the time. We have basically three leftists in the race: Murkowski, a Democrat-leaning Independent and a Democrat. So, we have a clear path to victory, and the grassroots are excited as can be that I’m in.
Levin, who said he is a “big fan” of Miller, asked him nevertheless whether his presence in the race will enable a Democrat candidate to get elected more easily.
“Not a chance, and that’s the beauty of this race,” Miller said. “No risk at all. We have a Democrat who will probably get less votes than the Democrat-leaning Independent who has raised over a half a million dollars and has the Democratic Party’s support.”
“This is a beautiful race where a true conservative has the opportunity to win, as long as everybody activates,” he continued. “And what we’re seeing on the ground – like I said before – is extraordinary.”
According to the Associated Press, pollster Marc Hellenthal says Murkowski is a popular moderate in Alaska, and a “shoo-in.”
Political strategist Jim Lottsfeldt added that opponents to Murkowski could split their votes among Miller, Margaret Stock (I), and Ray Metcalfe (D). In that case, Miller would need to merge all those votes for a victory.
“Murkowski really is a leftist,” agreed Levin. “She’s Mitch McConnell’s right-hand person, but she votes left all the time.”
In October of 2015 – following the release of videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s alleged practice of selling the body parts of aborted babies for a profit – Murkowski came out in support of the abortion business and against its defunding of taxpayer dollars, even as she acknowledged it was possible Planned Parenthood had been engaged in illegal activity.
She said:
What I was concerned about and remain concerned about was that Planned Parenthood, through some of its affiliates, may have been engaged in illegal activity when it came to the collection of fetal tissue. We don’t know yet if illegal activity was conducted. The head of Planned Parenthood has come before congressional committees and said there was none. I would like an independent investigation of that. Because if there was illegal activity it not only needs to be stopped, it needs to be punished, because that’s a violation of the law and there needs to be consequences for it.
Nevertheless, Murkowski said about her prior and current votes against defunding the abortion giant, “I did not believe and I do not believe that Planned Parenthood should be defunded.”
Levin observed to Miller that though Alaska is considered to be America’s frontier and the land of individuality, Murkowski “acts like a Republican from New Jersey – that is a Republican politician from New Jersey.”
“And worse,” Miller chuckled. “Since her dad appointed her, I think the debt was about at $6.7 trillion, now it’s almost $20 trillion – I don’t think there was a debt ceiling increase that I’m aware of that she voted against.”
“And what she has done has been worse than most other Republicans that are in office,” he continued. “Susan Collins – she’s the only one that’s more liberal than her – and it’s not at all representative of Alaska values how she votes in D.C.”
“She has an ‘F’ on the Liberty score from Conservative Review,” Levin observed. “Well-deserved on her part.”
A press release announcing Miller’s candidacy states that Murkowski actually referred to herself as “the Conservative Voice for Alaska” during the primary. In addition to a failing score from Conservative Review, Murkowski scores only 36 percent with the Heritage Action Committee ratings.
Levin brought up the fact that when Murkowski ran her write-in campaign six years ago, she did it with help from her establishment friends.
“She gets all her cronies, all the Republican establishment up there and so forth and so on, to try and take it back from you, which she did, correct?” Levin asked.
“She did,” Miller acknowledged. “She had a lot of help from the corporatists, had millions of dollars flow into the race. She made a bunch of promises that she hasn’t been able to keep and, as a consequence, those same folk aren’t behind her this time.”
Miller’s press release also states, “With a near-historic low of 15.4 percent turnout and only 7.7 percent of Alaska’s registered voters casting a vote for our incumbent senator in the primary, it is obvious that Alaskan voters wanted another choice.”
On his website called Restoring Liberty, Miller describes himself as “a limited government constitutionalist who believes government exists to protect our liberties, not to take them away.”
Miller says he “supports free people, free markets, federalism, the right to life, religious liberty, American sovereignty, and a strong national defense.”
He noted as well to Levin that he’s received an endorsement from Gun Owners of America and Alaska Right to Life, and added the co-chair of Donald Trump’s campaign and the former co-chair of Ted Cruz’s campaign are getting behind him as well.
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