How could it have come to this for Lisa?

According to Donald Craig Mitchell's useful re-cap of recent Alaska politics and interesting analysis of the current race for the Alaska Republican Senate nomination (via The Huffington Post), Joe Miller has a chance at beating Sen. Lisa Murkowski for several reasons, including Sarah Palin's endorsement and an influx of Tea Party cash just in time for the primary. So, Mitchell asks, how could it have come to this for Lisa? Mainly it's because despite all of the recent noise Lisa's made against the EPA and health care reform, Miller thinks that since 2002, the hard-right elements of the Alaska Republican Party have started realizing she's not much of an extremist. Mitchell calls Miller a hard-right "wing-nut" of the sort for which "Fairbanks ... is renowned," but adds, "But so what if Joe Miller is a wing-nut? Inside the Alaska Republican Party being a wing-nut is a credential worth advertising." Mitchell notes that with only about a third of registered Republicans customarily voting in the primaries, whoever can motivate the base, as folks say, will win the nomination. While the race between Lisa and Joe is the focus, the piece covers a great deal of ground, featuring plenty of Sarah and Frank. Read much more, here.