Murkowski touts choice, urges voter participation

WASILLA — It’s been a long, strange couple of months for Lisa Murkowski, what with losing the Republican primary in August then embarking on a write-in campaign.

But on Friday, just before a sign-waving event and a hockey game in the Valley, she made time for a scheduled conversation with the Frontiersman’s editorial board.

She said running as a write-in candidate has been a unique experience for her in more ways than one.

“It is a campaign that has a level of excitement and energy about it that is like nothing I’ve ever been involved with,” she said.

It’s one thing to get stopped on the street by a constituent with something to say, she said. That’s routine.

“It’s another thing to have somebody come up to you, grab you by the shoulders and say, ‘I’m so glad you’re giving me this choice. What can I do to help?’”

Which isn’t to say it’s been easy to run as a write-in candidate. Murkowski said she’s had to essentially write the playbook for how it’s done. People who have won as write-ins — what few there are — have called to offer advice. Murkowski said she thinks Alaska is the kind of place that gives write-in candidates a good shot.

The population is small enough that she can network with most of the state. And, she points out, the last successful write-in candidate for U.S. Senate, Strom Thurmond, ran his campaign in 1954, before there were things like Facebook and Twitter.

Murkowski said she thinks this round of voting will be different than the time when Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller beat her in the primary.

For one thing, she said, general elections tend to draw more voters than primary elections. More voters mean more chances to win votes. Whereas less than 30 percent of registered voters turned out in August, Murkowski said she thinks probably 60 percent will turn out in November.

“Typically in a general you’re going to double it,” she said. “Which is good. I hope that’s the case.”

And, she said, she’s heard story after story of people who meant to vote for her but for whatever reason didn’t manage to get to the polls. One place where she’s heard a lot of those stories, where she’s had a big support in the past, is the fishing community. August is a very busy time for fishermen. A lot of them were out on the water on primary day.

Part of what she’s doing this election season is trying to inspire people to vote.

If someone would argue that one vote doesn’t matter she would point to Tim Kelly, who won election to the state senate by one vote, or John Harris who once won his seat in the state Legislature by six votes.

“Of course every single vote counts,” Murkowski said.

Fighting apathy in younger voters, she said, is part of that. She said it’s something of a vicious circle; politicians assume youngster don’t vote, so they don’t do campaign stops or outreach with young voters. Which, in turn, probably breeds some of that apathy.

“I’ve got a personal goal within my office that I want to visit every school in Alaska,” she said. Students “are so much savvier, so much sharper than we give them credit for.”

General election candidates campaigning to represent the Mat-Su Borough are welcome to call 352-2268 to schedule interviews with the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman’s editorial board.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.