Tea Party ousts Lisa Murkowski in Sarah Palin's state | World news | guardian.co.uk

Tea Party's Joe Miller ousts Lisa Murkowski in Alaska

Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded her primary race last night. She is the third senator to lose renomination this year and the second to lose a primary.

Much has been made of Miller's endorsements from Palin and the Tea Party Express, and many media sources have treated him as a random Joe Blow plucked from obscurity, but he's actually very qualified on paper. He is a West Point grad. He received a Bronze Star in the Gulf War, and is still a captain in the Army reserve. He went back to school after the war and got a law degree from Yale. He again went back to school last year and got a Master's degree in economics!

Murkowski's ascension to the Senate was controversial in itself. Her father had been one of Alaska's senators, but decided to run for Governor while still an active senator. He won, then resigned his Senate seat. But here's the hook - under the Alaska law of that time, the new governor (Frank Murkowski) got to name the Senator who would replace the outgoing Senator (the same Frank Murkowski). Without any check on his power, he got to name his own successor as Senator. He named his daughter. This was so provocative that it caused the entire system to be changed so that the governor no longer has that unchecked power.

In her defense, it was only her 2002-03 term that was of slimy provenance, and the voters of Alaska didn't hold it against her. They respected her enough to award her another 6-year term in the 2004 general election.