Even though liberal MSM types like Ron Elving, senior Washington editor at NPR, have a hard time understanding what's going on, they are giving credit for Joe Miller's Alaska GOP Senate primary (apparent) victory to pro-life voters.
But the title and opening paragraph of Elving's August 26 piece not so subtly tell us he thinks Alaskans have gone crazy...
Elving, among others, still can't fathom that pro-lifers now comprise the majority. Even if so, he thinks people who believe preborn humans shouldn't be slaughtered for convenience and profit, and/or parents who want to know before their daughters abort (which was the ballot initiative that helped get voters out), wear tin hats. Nevertheless, he gave us credit:
Which kind of AK Republican was most motivated for this primary? The answer appears to be the populist, evangelical, anti-abortion Republicans who are likely to identify with the movement known as the Tea Party.Murkowski [pictured right] had a vulnerability within her own party because she was a supporter of abortion rights in some cases.
While abortion views are divided in AK as elsewhere, opposition to abortion is more concentrated in the Republican Party. And this week's ballot featured a voter measure on requiring parental notification prior to an abortion for a minor.
Murkowski endorsed the measure, but the anti-abortion activists who came out to vote for it may well have preferred Miller's anti-abortion credentials overall. It was also this issue that influenced former AK Gov. Sarah Palin to switch her support from Murkowski to Miller....
[W]hen Miller later emerged as an anti-abortion champion aligned with the Tea Party and other Palin causes, the state's most mediagenic citizen made her move. It didn't hurt that Mike Huckabee, the former minister, governor and presidential candidate who also appears on Fox News, came to the state to campaign for Miller....
Politics and World News also gave the nod for Wilson's (apparent) win to those who believe preborn babies shouldn't be suctioned and chopped, nor should 12-yr-olds almost certainly impregnated under shady circumstances be secreted away for abortions without their parents knowing...
as did the Anchorage Daily News...
Note in ADN's story how enthusiastically Miller supported Ballot Measure 2, in contrast to Murkowski's tepid support, clearly trying to straddle the fence...
The abortion issue may have cost embattled... Murkowski an untold number of votes Tuesday to Republican primary challenger Joe Miller, say anti-abortion activists. The ballot also included a sharply contested voter initiative generally requiring parents to be notified before their teen receives an abortion. Miller [pictured below left, with voters] came out strongly for Ballot Measure 2.
"He told voters over and over again: Flip your ballot over, vote 'yes on 2.' Before you vote for me, vote 'yes on 2.' Ballot Measure 2 is much more important than this Senate race," said Bernadette Wilson, campaign manager for Alaskans for Parental Rights, the "yes on 2" group.
Murkowski never did the same, Wilson said. All the other statewide Republican candidates gave money to the effort. Murkowski didn't, Wilson said. Supporters of the parental notification requirement noticed, she said.
Murkowski's campaign said the senator supported Measure 2 and went to 2 fundraisers for it. But her campaign lawyer advised that she couldn't let Alaskans for Parental Rights use her name in its materials, because that would amount to an illegal campaign contribution to her, under federal election law, according to an e-mailed copy of the analysis.
The initiative, which marked the first time Alaskans confronted an abortion issue at the polls, passed with 55 percent of the vote.
In addition... AK Family Council asked candidates detailed questions on abortion and other social issues. Murkowski's answers showed her to be pro-choice, while Miller was the opposite... The political group sent the answers to thousands of its supporters, as well as pastors and the media....
Murkowski's record on abortion is complex. She has long said abortion decisions are between a woman and her doctor, and in her first appointed Senate term, she voted for a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" that supported Roe v. Wade. But she's voted against federal funding for abortion, and supported a ban on late-term abortions....
Alaskans for Parental Rights never told its backers to vote for Miller, and didn't work on his campaign, Wilson said.
But it didn't have to. Weeks ago, when her group first waved their "yes on 2" signs along the Seward Highway in Midtown, Miller drove past, then made a U-turn to join them, Wilson said. On Election Day, Miller waved one of their signs along with one of his own.
"People who voted 'yes' on Ballot Measure 2 and people who voted for Joe Miller are of like mind," Wilson said. "People kind of linked arms and came to the polls for both."
"There's no doubt that Lisa Murkowski's pro-abortion views had an influence on this election," [council president Jim] Minnery said.
Of note is I learned about this MSM articles via Robin Marty at the pro-abort site RH Reality Check, who seemed to have no wind in her sails when reporting the AK pro-life phenomenon.... no excuses, no rationalization, even appearing to defend Murkowski as a supporter of Measure 2 by reposting her excuse for lack of overt support.
[Bottom photo via the AP ]
