'They told us this could not be done,' Murkowski said Wednesday. Jubilant Murkowski invokes Stevens

At a news conference in Anchorage on Wednesday evening, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski declared victory for her historic write-in campaign to keep her seat.

In a speech to supporters, Murkowski frequently invoked that man she called her political mentor, the late Sen. Ted Stevens, as she described her “miracle” of a comeback campaign.


“Ted’s motto was ‘To hell with politics, let’s do what’s right for Alaska,’” Murkowski told supporters. “And that’s what we did. We let that be the driver.”

Murkowski leads Republican Joe Miller by more than 10,000 votes. The Associated Press has declared Murkowski the victor — however, Miller has yet to concede, citing voting problems in several precincts and saying he might request a recount if the margin is close.

Yet fresh off a plane flight from Washington, Murkowski confidently said her campaign made history as the first victorious write-in bid for Senate in 56 years, since Strom Thurmond prevailed in South Carolina.

“They told us this could not be done and we all heard it,” said Murkowski. “What a wild, wild thing that we were doing. What a chance, what a risk, but for the right thing.”

In what Murkowski described as an age of voter “apathy,” she hailed the more than 100,000 people who wrote her name down on their respective ballots. She said Alaskans “showed their intent with every letter” they wrote in the ballot – a veiled knock at Miller, who has filed a lawsuit in federal court arguing that voters must spell her name correctly, instead of election officials judging ballots based on voter intent.

Murkowski leads Miller by 2,247 votes among uncontested ballots, plus there are an additional 8,153 votes for the senator that have been challenged by the Miller campaign for reasons such as incorrect spelling and arguably illegible penmanship. The fate of those ballots could end up in court, although that is highly unlikely given what appears to be an insurmountable lead for Murkowski among unchallenged ballots.

Murkowski declared her victory just hours before Nov. 18 — the first official “Ted Stevens Day” in Alaska – and with some members of late senator’s family present. She recalled what Stevens, who died in a plane crash two weeks before the Republican primary in August, said was his motto for his squadron in World War II: “We do the impossible immediately; Miracles take a little longer.”

“Well tonight, after eight weeks, I think we can say our miracle is here,” said Murkowski.