Murkowski victory a stinging rebuke to Palin and extreme partisans
The Alaska senator’s courageous decision to fight on after losing a closed partisan primary was rewarded with the first write-in Senate victory in a half-century. It is a stinging rebuke to Sarah Palin by her fellow Alaskans.
It also represents a centrist reality check to the right-wing conservative populism which has dominated headlines over the past year. Now Murkowski will re-enter the Senate as a political force in her own right, liberated by this trial-by-fire election.
Here are three lessons her victory should teach the GOP and Americans as a whole: