Leman's endorsement opens door for Knowles

Frontiersman editorial board

When Lt. Gov. Loren Leman announced his endorsement of Mike Miller in the race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, it probably came as more of a disappointment than a real surprise to Murkowski, and her father, Gov. Frank Murkowski.

Sen. Murkowski was quoted later as saying Leman was not a team player. In her father's administration, that term has become code for someone who is about to be kicked off the team, or at least benched. The senator later explained that her definition is a little more subtle. Leman had spent the two days prior to his announcement with both Murkowskis, and had failed to mention his intention to lend his support to Lisa's primary opponent.

"What I meant was that he's on the Murkowski Administration team," Sen. Murkowski said last Thursday. "I'm a big kid, and I know people are going to line up behind me, or behind my opponents. I just think he owed an explanation to the governor, rather than a voice mail after his press conference. I think that was just bad form."

Political campaigns are more about form than substance these days, but whether Leman exercised the proper level of courtesy toward the governor is likely to be moot by the time the dust settles. The day before he announced his endorsement of Miller, Leman was quoted as saying Murkowski couldn't beat Tony Knowles in the general election. That's really the question -- can either Murkowski or Miller prevail in November? If a Republican victory was doubtful to begin with, Leman's endorsement would seem to nearly seal the deal for Knowles.

Miller was seen as leaning far to the right to begin with, and Leman's connection with the Christian Right only seems to push Miller further from the center. That may fly in some local elections, but it's unlikely to bode well for Miller in a statewide race.

Murkowski already entered the race handicapped by the millstone of being appointed to the seat by her father. The governor's own fall in popularity, and the impression of nepotism, have produced a steep hill for Lisa to climb. Now she'll have to spend some of her campaign war chest to defeat Miller, and that battle is likely to help Knowles gain even more ground when he begins to campaign seriously.

While Alaska Republicans are all wearing long faces over the Leman endorsement, Knowles can only be smiling.