Lisa mulls third-party run. What could possibly go wrong?

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A source inside the Murkowski campaign has told Shushannah Walshe that Alaska's Senior Senator may abandon the Republican Party to make a third-party run in a desperate move to try to hold on to her seat in the U.S. Senate:

If Murkowski is not victorious when the absentee ballots are counted and decides to wage an Independent party bid, they might consider using this option, which the source wouldn't describe, but did confirm they were seriously looking at.

"We are going to take a look at them and see whether the option is there or not, but it's a decision she (Murkowski) has to make," the Murkowski camp source said. "There is an option I know of."

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Although it’s not exactly clear what options the Murkowski camp are now exploring, one possibility is running a write-in campaign, which would be a very difficult and unlikely option.

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The other possibility: the Alaska Independence Party. Former Governor Wally Hickel lost the Republican primary in 1990, but won in the general by being on the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) ticket. A third-party run could work for Murkowski as the Democrat's candidate is largely unknown Sitka mayor Scott McAdams, but she would have to overcome the main reason the AIP exists in the Last Frontier: They are a secessionist party calling for Alaska to leave the United States. Obviously, Murkowski is not a secessionist, which Alaskans know, and an aggressive PR campaign promoting her independence rather than the AIP may be her only route back to Washington this fall.

In response, the Miller campaign pointed to heat Miller received in the primary because he left the Republican Party and then returned in protest over a dispute with party Chairman Randy Ruedrich, stressing that Murkowski doing the same would be “an uncomfortable thing to do.”

“It would be difficult ground to stand on. She loses the election and then says I’m going to take my marbles and I’m going home to be an Independent,” said a Miller campaign aide.

We see another problem with an AIP run for Murkowski. She went out of her way to criticize Sarah Palin for reigning as Alaska's governor, saying she was "deeply disappointed that the governor has decided to abandon the state and her constituents before her term has concluded." If Murkowski runs as the candidate of the AIP or any other third party, she will open herself up to criticism that she is abandoning her party in an attempt to hold on to power. It's one that the Miller campaign won't hesitate to use against Murkowski to define her as a rank opportunist.

- JP