Does McAdams have a chance against Miller in Alaska Senate race?

Now that Sen. Lisa Murkowski has conceded the GOP primary to Joe Miller, the political world is taking a closer look -- at Democrat Scott McAdams.

The virtually unknown Sitka mayor who will be going up against Miller on Nov. 2 is getting a lot more coverage these days from the press. The Sitka city clerk's office says it has been slammed with requests from reporters for background information on him. And he was on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show Wednesday night.

"I'm the only guy at the (Alaska State Fair) with a tie on," McAdams told Maddow, standing in the sun in a black suit, the "Peanut Potatoes" sign prominent behind him.

Everyone seems to want to know: Who is this guy, and can he beat the Tea Party favored-Joe Miller -- a Gulf War veteran, Yale Law School grad and friend of Sarah Palin's?

The answer to the first question is a work in progress. McAdams has only recently begun to campaign in earnest, hiring new staff and moving to Anchorage for the next two months. He's taken an unpaid leave from his job as director of community schools for the Sitka School District.

The second question may be a politically painful one for McAdams. National polls have put McAdams within striking distance of Miller -- the latest by Rasmussen Reports had him down by 6 points. Still, national experts are pretty much writing him off, the locals only a bit less so. In fact, there are still rumblings that Democratic power players are still trying to enlist someone else -- like Tony Knowles or Fran Ulmer -- to replace him on the ballot.

In over his head?

"McAdams, at least in my view, is in way over his head," says Jennifer Duffy, senior political editor for the Cook Political Report who follows Senate races nationwide.

Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, echoes that assessment. "I think Scott McAdams' chances are very, very slight," he said earlier this week.

Neither Duffy nor Sabato expect the national Democrats, in the form of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, to put much money into the Alaska race, primarily because cash is tight this year and it will be needed for more critical -- and winnable -- races elsewhere. Both point out that the seat was likely going to stay Republican anyway -- Murkowski was expected to win -- so Miller's primary victory didn't change the red and blue pushpins on the national map.

They also doubt that McAdams, a political novice, can raise enough money locally in just two months to counter the Tea Party Express' campaign checkbook, let alone what Miller likely will now bring in.

"I can't see Alaska electing a second Democrat to the U.S. Senate in what is going to be a very Republican year," Sabato said.

Local experts aren't as quick to close the door on a McAdams win. Carl Shepro, a University of Alaska Anchorage political science professor, says it all depends on what kind of campaign McAdams can run. McAdams has never run a statewide campaign before, he added.

"He's pretty much an unknown, so it's definitely going to take some money because he needs to improve his name image," Shepro said. He thinks a critical question is what the DSCC decides to do.