Miller-Palin Facebook ads pop up

Joe Miller, the Republican challenger to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, got some shine late Tuesday night when the Tea Party Express sent out an e-mail saying that with Mike Lee's victory in Utah's GOP Senate primary, the group can now focus on defeating Murkowski. "Lisa Murkowski embodies all that is wrong with Washington D.C. politicians and it's time to retire her, like a lame race horse who has long since served its purpose," said Dustin Stockton, the director of grassroots and coalitions at the Tea Party Express, in the release.

The Tea Party Express, which is headquartered in California and collects donations from tea partiers across the country, has said it will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and  have staff in Alaska as part of its effort to get Miller elected. Miller and his close-cropped beard have also started to pop up on Alaskans' Facebook pages in ads that tout his conservative stance, with Sarah Palin literally looking over his shoulder.

"Sarah Palin backs Joe Miller for US Senate in Alaska. Send a true conservative to Washington!" the ad reads.

Miller has close to 4,000 Facebook friends, including Alan Keyes, Tom Tancredo and Loren Lemen. A few Alaska politicos, including Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, are playing it safe by being friends with both candidates.

In some ways, the Republican primary seems like a fight between the candidates to define themselves as the state's "real" conservative. Miller is calling himself a "true conservative," while the first line of Murkowski's new radio spot begins, "Lisa Murkowski. A conservative record of protecting Alaska," and continues by listing her conservative accomplishments, including her fight against the EPA, ACORN and "President Obama's trillion dollar takeover of healthcare."

Contact Joshua Saul at jsaul(at)alaskadispatch.com.