I Thought Alan Funt Was Dead; Turns Out He's Alive & Well @ The NRSC

I'm not paranoiacally ascribing sinister motivations to this - though some VERY near-term 'splainin' would be well-nigh mandatory - but have the good folks from Cornynia ever heard of the concept of....oh, I don't know - OPTICS?:

Sean Cairncross, the general counsel of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, is headed to Alaska at the request of Senator Lisa Murkowski to help provide guidance to the GOP incumbent finds herself trailing attorney Joe Miller by roughly 1,600 votes…

Committee sources insisted that too much should not be read into Cairncross’ presence in Alaska — only that the NRSC is an incumbent-retention committee and, as such, provides assistance when Senators ask for it.

As evidence that the committee is not putting all of its chips on Murkowski, a GOP source tells the Fix that Rob Jesmer, the bespectacled executive director of the NRSC, spoke by phone with a top Miller aide yesterday — making clear that if he wins the election the committee will support him wholeheartedly.

Yes, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is in the business of retaining incumbents once they help get them elected.  But that's supposed to be in the general campaign, not primaries. Otherwise you have a party entity with a definitional mission of waging intra-party civil war against its own grassroots supporters.  That would be, in a word, insane.

I want to agree with Ace that this is just Cairncross talking Murk in off the ledge, reassuring her that the standard lucrative defeated incumbent package of K-street teat-suckling is all set and waiting for her because if she does something loony and crazy-divisive like pulling a Crist she'll be less popular amongst Republicans and indies than foot fungus without luring away nearly enough Dems to make up the difference.  "Twisting in the wind" is the operative metaphor.

I want to believe that.  And it should be noted that dispatching Cairncross to the Last Frontier was Murk's idea, not Cornyn's, and she's entitled to such consultation as a sitting Republican senator.

But after the way the NRSC tried to pre-empt Marco Rubio on Sorry Charlie's behalf early on in the cycle and got burned, it just looks bad.  REALLY bad.  Bad enough that TPers who already maintain a less than entirely healthy level of distrust against the Party establishment as it is may not be willing to listen to reason unless this consultation is handled VERY delicately and VERY quickly.

And if Eeyore's trademark pessimistic paranoia is borne out and the NRSC is mobilizing for "a recount, court battle, etc."....?

No, that's too stupid even for the Stupid Party.

Did I mention that the Libertarians have a publicity hardon?

I will tell you that it has been reported that David Haase would be willing to step down. If this is true, our executive committee would decide who to replace him with for November.

There are many considerations here, including a chance at the first elected Libertarian U.S. Senator in our party's history. There is also my race to consider and what impact if any it would have on my chances to defeat the longest serving Democrat in the Alaska House. There is no Republican on the ballot.

Ironically, just yesterday I did agree to "Caucus" with the Republicans if I am elected. My friend Eric will be doing a story on that at LibertarianRepublican.net later this evening.

Frankly, if pressed on the matter, my inclination at this moment is to vote yes.

Greed or ego, Lisa; what'll it be?