Lisa and Blanche

I never thought I'd be in this position, and I never thought I'd actually say this, but I'm glad a Republican female senator won her bid for another term and I'm equally glad that a Democratic female senator lost.

The winning Republican would be Lisa Murkowski, Alaska's senior senator, elected to a second full term as a write-in candidate, the first Senate candidate to stage a successful write-in campaign in over fifty years. Murkowski had to overcome the loss of her party's nomination to noted lumberjack impersonator Joe Miller, the power of the Tea Party, and her own mildly unwieldy Polish surname to win, but she did. And I'm extremely grateful for her victory.

In no way am I endorsing Murkowski's views or agenda. After all, this is a woman notable for trying to weaken environmental regulations, for example. Yet Murkowski is a serious, diligent legislator who represents the interests of Alaska and recognizes the importance of federal money for her state that the Tea Party program would obviously cut off. And Miller was prepared to tow the Tea Party line. Murkowski is more of a realist than many of the Senate candidates the Tea Party put forward, and her victory means that, while the next Senate will include meatheads like Ron Johnson and the horrible Pat Toomey, it will not include Joe Miller.

Oh yeah, even if all the write-in ballots Miller is challenging over their legibility and proper spelling are thrown out, he still can't win. He's currently trying to sue his way into the Senate.

Even more pleasing is that this is a blow for Sarah Palin as she prepares for a possible presidential run. Palin has long been at odds with Murkowski and her father, former Alaska governor (and senator) Frank Murkowski, having defeated him in the state Republican primary in 2006 when he ran for a second term as Alaska's governor. Palin's attempt to score another point in a blood feud with the Murkowski family by supporting Miller makes her look all the more foolish, now that he's lost. And Lisa Murkowski, unlike nationwide Republicans and other Republicans in Alaska, has come right out and said that Palin is unqualified to be President and lacks both the desire and the intellectual curiosity to govern. That makes her simpatico with her state's top Democrat, fellow senator Mark Begich.

The other welcome result in the Senate elections is the defeat of Blanche Lambert Lincoln in Arkansas. An opponent of the public health insurance option in the health care law and a supporter of business-friendly domestic policies, Lincoln defeated a more liberal candidate, Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, in the Democratic primary only to lose to Republican John Boozman in the general election. And even though Lincoln's loss means it will be that much harder for the Democrats (who are probably finished as a party anyway) to hold onto the Senate in 2012, no one is shedding any tears for this corporate Democrat. At least with Boozman, progressives will know their enemy. Good riddance.