As it stands now, teabagger Joe Miller leads incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski by 1,960 votes, with 97.95 percent of precincts reporting. The Anchorage Daily News reports that Palin was definitely a factor on her home turf.
Miller, a Fairbanks attorney, led from when the first returns came in Tuesday night and was on the verge of pulling off one of the biggest election upsets ever in Alaska.
With 429 of 438 precincts counted this morning,, Miller had 45,909 votes (51 percent) to 43,949 (49 percent) for Murkowski.
Miller credited the support of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his lead.
"I'm absolutely certain that was pivotal," he said.
Murkowski on Tuesday night took a shot at Palin, saying that when Palin resigned as governor last summer she said she would use her new national role to help out Alaska.
"I think she's out for her own self-interest. I don't think she's out for Alaska's interest," Murkowski said as she waited at her campaign headquarters for results to come in.
The results won't be known until the absentees are counted, which will be finalized on September 8. The elections division received more than 16,000 absentee ballot requests, and thus far about 7,600 have been returned. One element that undoubtedly drove Palin's, and Miller's, rabid conservative folks out to vote was Ballot Measure 2, a parental notification measure. Murkowski, who supported the measure, is nonetheless pro-choice, an increasingly difficult thing for a Republican to be. Another factor was the $600K the Tea Party Express pumped into this cheap media market for ads on Miller's behalf.
Whichever candidate emerges victorious (and Murkowski would have to get a big majority of the absentee ballots to do it) will face Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams in November. McAdams cruised in his four-way primary, netting an almost 30-point victory over his nearest competitor.