Murkowski and Miller show off their endorsements

Part of winning an election is showing off the VIPs in your corner. Trotting out a well-known name can pump up donations, intimidate the competition, and help bring out the base. In the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller, the candidates are seizing every opportunity to show off their big name supporters.

The names Murkowski and Miller are trotting out say a lot about the image each is trying to push. Miller, who has cast himself as a constitutionalist tea partier who will shrink the federal government, boasts endorsements from Sarah and Todd Palin, the Tea Party Express, a stack of national talk show hosts, and local tea party groups like the Conservative Patriots Group and the Kenai Peninsula Tea Party Patriots.

Murkowski, on the other hand, is presenting herself as a senior senator with the relationships and committee positions to be a strong advocate for Alaska. Her endorsements back up that establishment image. Her declared supporters include state House Speaker Mike Chenault and state Senate President Gary Stevens and 18 Alaska mayors, both current and former, from Unalaska to Wasilla to Anchorage.

Murkowski's endorsements by organizations like the NRA and the National Education Association's Alaska office show who those groups are expecting to work with over the next six years.

The letter from the NRA's political action committee thanks Murkowski for signing friend of the court briefs in recent Supreme Court cases and for her votes on various pro-gun votes.

But Murkowski's relationship with the NRA wasn't always so rosy. In 2002 Murkowski was running for the state House against Nancy Dahlstrom, then a political newbie who criticized Murkowski for being insufficiently conservative on guns, abortions, and taxes. Dahlstrom was endorsed by the NRA and came within 57 votes of beating Murkowski.

Murkowski took the lesson to heart. According to a 2004 Anchorage Daily News story, in 2003 Murkowski contacted the NRA to say she was interested in hosting a fundraiser for the NRA's nonprofit affiliate. The first "Lisa Murkowski Midnight Sun Shootout" raised $30,000, and the second, in 2004, raised $50,000. That same year Murkowski found herself in another tough primary race, this time for the Senate seat to which her father had appointed her, but this time she won the NRA endorsement and went on to win the election handily.

Now, six years later (and after eight Midnight Sun Shootouts) Murkowski is in another primary race against a challenger who calls her out for being a Republican in name only. After the 2002 lesson and the 2004 reminder, Murkowski appreciates the value of the NRA endorsement.

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