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'''Lisa Ann Murkowski''', born May 22, 1957 (age {{age|1957|5|22}}), is the senior [[United States]] [[U.S. Senator|Senator]] from [[Alaska]] and a member of the [[Republican Party]]. She is Alaska's first female senator and the first U.S. Senator born in Alaska. In 1998, Murkowski was elected to the Alaska [[House of Representatives]] and had been elected the House Majority Leader for the 2003–2004 session. In December 2002, her father, Governor [[Frank Murkowski]], appointed her to a vacant seat in the United States Senate, resulting in charges of nepotism. In her 2004 reelection she was considered the [[Democrat]]s best chance to pick up a seat from an incumbent Republican. Murkowski was elected to a full six year term by a 49%-46% margin.  

'''Lisa Ann Murkowski''', born May 22, 1957 (age {{age|1957|5|22}}), is the senior [[United States]] [[U.S. Senator|Senator]] from [[Alaska]] and a member of the [[Republican Party]]. She is Alaska's first female senator and the first U.S. Senator born in Alaska. In 1998, Murkowski was elected to the Alaska [[House of Representatives]] and had been elected the House Majority Leader for the 2003–2004 session. In December 2002, her father, Governor [[Frank Murkowski]], appointed her to a vacant seat in the United States Senate, resulting in charges of nepotism. In her 2004 reelection she was considered the [[Democrat]]s best chance to pick up a seat from an incumbent Republican. Murkowski was elected to a full six-year term by a 49%-46% margin.  

==2010 Midterm Elections==

==2010 Midterm Elections==

In a stunning upset, she was defeated for renomination in 2010 by Tea Party favorite and pro-life conservative [[Gulf War]] veteran [[Joe Miller]]. Murkowski ran a write in candidacy, which was especially complicated due to the high rate of non-english speakers who supported her. Approximately 8,000 of the 100,000 write in votes cast for her were misspelled, the most common misspelling was Merkowski, but Murkowsky and Murcowski were also common. For comparison the last major write in candidate, Robin Taylor, who was the Republican party nominee running against a withdrawn candidate and a [[Democrat]] had about 15% misspellings, Robin Taylor is far easier to spell than Lisa Murkowski. The wording of the legislation leads readers to the conclusion that no misspelling is acceptable, even with out misspellings Murkowski won, but the Division of Elections and State and Federal courts chose to take voter intent into account and concluded that all votes that where phonetically identical to Murkowski should be counted for her. The legislation was rewritten early in the 2011 legislative session with bipartisan support in order to avoid repeat problems in the future.

In a stunning upset, she was defeated for renomination in 2010 by Tea Party favorite and pro-life conservative [[Gulf War]] veteran [[Joe Miller]]. Murkowski ran a write in candidacy, which was especially complicated due to the high rate of non-English speakers who supported her. Approximately 8,000 of the 100,000 write in votes cast for her were misspelled, the most common misspelling was Merkowski, but Murkowsky and Murcowski were also common. For comparison the last major write in candidate, Robin Taylor, who was the Republican party nominee running against a withdrawn candidate and a [[Democrat]] had about 15% misspellings, Robin Taylor is far easier to spell than Lisa Murkowski. The wording of the legislation leads readers to the conclusion that no misspelling is acceptable, even with out misspellings Murkowski won, but the Division of Elections and State and Federal courts chose to take voter intent into account and concluded that all votes that where phonetically identical to Murkowski should be counted for her. The legislation was rewritten early in the 2011 legislative session with bipartisan support in order to avoid repeat problems in the future.

==Political views==

==Political views==