Joe Miller Fears Lisa Murkowski Will Push Legal Battle for Alaska Senate Seat

Fairbanks lawyer Joe Miller, the Sarah Palin favorite who holds a slim lead in the undecided Alaska Republican Senate primary, says he fears incumbent Lisa Murkowski will push a protracted legal battle to keep her seat, pulling "an Al Franken, if you will."

Miller's mention of Franken is a reference to the 2008 Senate election in Minnesota, which was so close the outcome was disputed in court for months. But his singling out of Democrat Franken was somewhat puzzling, as it was the incumbent Republican, Norm Coleman, who trailed during the court review and legal wrangling. In other words, it would appear that Miller, the insurgent, is in the Franken role in 2010. He holds a 1,668-vote margin over Murkowski, according to the AP, with as many as 16,000 absentee ballots still to be counted.

Murkowski is getting the assistance of a National Republican Senatorial Committee lawyer, according to The Hill newspaper. That's what worries Miller: "It makes you scratch your head and wonder what's really going on here." Miller said he wants to make sure the votes are counted fairly, "without any type of game play." He told Fox Business News, "It concerns us any time somebody lawyers-up and tries to pull an Al Franken, if you will. We are very concerned that there may be some attempt here to skew the results."

Palin, whose endorsement gave the little-known Miller credibility in the race, is a rival of the Murkowski family and defeated the senator's father, Frank Murkowski, in the 2006 Alaska governor's race. Miller, an Iraq war veteran, also had backing from the conservative Tea Party movement.