Murkowski to Announce Write-in Candidacy

Alaska's senior U.S. Senator, Lisa Murkowski, will announce shortly that she's launching a write-in candidacy to keep her job, according to a source close to her. Andrew Halcro, a former Republican candidate for Governor and Murkowski ally, tells Fox News, Murkowski was swayed by a recent poll conducted by David Dittman which showed if Murkowski ran as a third party candidate she'd beat Tea Party favorite Joe Miller by 6 points and Democrat candidate Scott McAdams by 18 points.

Halcro acknowledges that Murkowski has an extra hill to climb considering her name will not appear on the ballot, but he does not think it's insurmountable. Murkowski has called a 5pm news conference (9pm Eastern) in Anchorage to announce her intentions.

Joe Miller stunned Murkowski in the Republican primary beating her by a couple thousand votes. Many political observers thought Murkowski took Miller too lightly. She did not spend her formidable campaign fund which is estimated at $1.4 million.