Alaska Speaks. Finally.

By GAIL COLLINS
NYT

I know you’ve been asking yourselves: What does the United States Senate election in Alaska mean to me? Really, I know it.

Senator Lisa Murkowski has just claimed a historic write-in victory against Joe Miller, the Tea Party champion who beat her in the Republican primary. The first thing you will want to know is that this will make Sarah Palin miserable.

Murkowski’s father, the former senator and governor, was one of Palin’s archenemies back in the days of yore when Palin was all about attacking Big Oil and corrupt politics. Her interests have changed, but her antipathy toward the Murkowskis lives on. She threw one of her superpowerful Facebook posts Miller’s way, delivering both attention and money in his direction.

As soon as she saw the write-in vote count was looking good, Murkowski did an interview on CBS News with Katie Couric. Take that, Sarah! Murkowski took the opportunity to offer her opinion about Palin as presidential timber: “I just do not think that she has those leadership qualities, that intellectual curiosity, that allows for building good and great policies.” And that!

(More here.)