Just weeks after her comeback, Murkowski has emerged as the Senate's new maverick. Murkowski goes rogue

Lisa Murkowski isn’t gunning down caribou on national TV like that other famous Alaskan, but the Republican lawmaker is going rogue in the Senate just weeks after staging the most stunning back-from-the-dead political win of the 2010 cycle.

Murkowski is already showing a fierce independent streak, becoming the only Republican to cast votes on all four items on President Barack Obama’s wish list: a repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a tax-cut compromise, the START deal and cloture for the DREAM Act.


The lame-duck votes capped a strange political odyssey for the Alaska Republican — one that started Aug. 31 when she conceded the GOP primary to tea-party-backed Joe Miller, continued when she resigned her leadership job in September and ended when she waged Alaska’s first successful statewide write-in bid to retain her seat. (See: The ABC's of Murkowski's write-in bid)

Now, she heads back to the Senate with a fresh six-year term without owing much to either her home state party establishment or her Washington leadership.

Murkowski’s willingness to defy Republican top brass after a bitter fight to keep her seat may mark a pivotal point in her career as she emerges as a real maverick foil to Sarah Palin, the conservative idol who put Alaska politics on the national map. And while conservatives who helped oust Murkowski from the GOP ticket in Alaska may howl about her being a “Republican In Name Only,” Murkowski could enjoy a powerful perch as a much-sought-after moderate in an almost evenly divided Senate. (See: Murkowski: Palin's no leader)

“She's a person who makes up her own mind, does what she thinks is right and always keeps the concerns of her state at the forefront,” moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told POLITICO of Murkowski, adding that the Alaskan was an important ally in helping overturn DADT.

“I can’t speak for Lisa’s plans; all I can tell you is that she is an extraordinarily effective senator and I’m sure she’s going to continue to play an absolutely critical role in the caucus and in the Senate.”

Collins, who calls Murkowski one of her “favorite people,” is not alone in her praise. Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) emphasized Murkowski’s pragmatism as a venerable partner in attacking energy issues that typically draw partisan ire.

“She’s very interested in getting good results and not playing politics with issues,” Bingaman told POLITICO. “She and I have worked together well on the energy committee, and I think we have been able to operate that committee well on a bipartisan basis with her help.”

Murkowski is also developing a significant working relationship with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who was one of the top negotiators on the DREAM Act, a bill that would have established a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who enroll in college or the military. (See: Murkowski expects to retain seniority)

A Durbin aide said Murkowski was open to conversations on the DREAM Act “for a number of weeks,” and that the two senators “spoke regularly” on the issue before this weekend’s failed cloture vote, in which only three GOP members broke with their party.

The dramatic closing weeks to one of the most productive legislative sessions in history — and Murkowski’s role — might be one of the most interesting political prologues to a new Congress punctuated by the arrival of young conservatives. (See: Obama touts 'season of progress')

Murkowski declined to be interviewed for this story — and Alaskan officials have not yet certified her election because of pending suits from Miller. Randy DeSoto, a Miller spokesman, criticized Murkowski’s lame-duck votes in a statement to POLITICO.

“In supposedly voting ‘for Alaska,’ Lisa Murkowski must make the case why the Bush tax cuts shouldn't be permanent, why we're rewarding people for breaking our immigration laws, why DADT was not working and why the Senate should not take further time to review START,” DeSoto said.

Murkowski’s recent record may translate into a future as a key player for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who leaned heavily on Collins, her Maine colleague Sen. Olympia Snowe and Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown to break filibusters on priorities like Wall Street reform and unemployment insurance extensions when he needed to flip just one Republican to press forward. (See: Arlen Specter says goodbye)

Though Alaska is more conservative than the New England states, a diminished Democratic majority in 2011 could throw Murkowski into the mix of potential swing votes for Reid, who will need seven Republicans in addition to the support his full caucus for any given measure. Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) likely will be in a constant tug of war to keep moderate members of their respective caucuses in tow. Meanwhile back home, Murkowski owes much of her write-in success to moderates as well as Democrats who voted for her in an effort to keep Miller out.

In her statement defending her DREAM Act vote, Murkowski left the door open for further work on immigration issues in 2011.

“Congress needs to embrace the wider immigration question, starting with securing our borders, and I plan to work with my colleagues on this issue in the new Congress,” she wrote.

Murkowski’s lame-duck votes are not without precedent. She sided with Democrats in nearly 20 percent of votes in the 110th Congress, the cycle before she was up for reelection. She has a pattern of working constructively with Democrats on energy issues. White House officials — particularly energy czar Carol Browner, who is expected to take on an elevated role for Obama in the new year — consistently have cited Murkowski as someone they can work with. (See: Drilling reviews draw Senate fire)

“Even when she was in leadership, she was a pretty independent-minded senator,” said one top GOP aide. “She is generally always involved in the process of trying to reach some sort of end result — she wasn't about stopping whatever the other side was doing.”

And most notably, Murkowski has gone on the record multiple times to express her disdain for Senate tea party champion Jim DeMint, setting her up as a potential opponent to the new caucus of conservative-leaning Republican senators — like Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah — heading to Washington in January.

“Some of the Republicans in the Congress feel pretty strongly that he and his actions potentially cost us the majority by encouraging candidates that ended up not being electable,” Murkowski told POLITICO last month, adding that DeMint was “out for his own initiative” rather than the good of the party. (See: Murkowski to DeMint: Stay out of Alaska)

It's also possible that the infusion of these DeMint-backed conservatives into the GOP Conference could strengthen the bonds between Murkowski and moderates like Collins, Snowe and increasingly Brown — with the last two up for reelection in 2012.

Collins and Snowe were outspoken supporters of the Alaskan senator in a caucus meeting after Murkowski’s primary defeat when the full GOP Conference decided not to act on removing Murkowski as ranking member on the energy committee, even though Republican committee members had supported doing so.

According to multiple accounts of the meeting, many other members of the GOP establishment, along with retiring senators, spoke against removing Murkowksi from her top slot on the energy panel — an indication that she still finds general support among GOP ranks, despite the fact that Republicans were obligated to back Miller as the party nominee. (See: Murkowski keeps committee slot)

Though Murkowski’s top spot on the committee is not guaranteed when the Senate starts back up in January, she has a good working relationship with Bingaman and helped craft the energy bill that became the last hope this summer for Democrats looking to move on the issue after talks between Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) broke down.

Aides who work closely with members on both sides of the aisle are reluctant to say whether Murkowski has changed her approach since surviving the Miller saga of 2010. Instead, they emphasize that the Alaska Republican is doing what she always has done by attracting more attention for it now because of her fight to stay in Congress.

“Her natural inclination [to work pragmatically] will probably get more attention than it used to — I don't know that her attitude will change so much as it will get more attention for doing what she always used to do,” a senior GOP aide said.

But back in Alaska, others have taken a different view. Ivan Moore, an Alaskan pollster who also pens a column for the Anchorage Press, pointed to Murkowski’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” vote as a sign of a "new Lisa.”

“There’s a new paradigm now, and with it comes a watershed political moment for her personally,” Moore wrote, noting that 60 percent of Murkowski voters in the last election supported repeal. “She has made her position quite clear — she supports repeal of DADT. ... Good for her, I reckon. I think she has conclusively detached herself from her former allegiance to the right and is charting a new course. DADT was her first real test, and I think she passed.”