and sarah palin's surrogate joe miller.e run a fundamental campaign putting one foot in front the other, talking directly to alaska knowledge voters. >> reporter: he spent the weekend trick or treating with his kids and looking for votes. the scariest moments may be yet to come. ballots will be flown in from tiny villages with little oversight. handwriting will be examined and reexamined. and the ballots that will decide a winner may not be counted for a very long time. come election day, even the day after and the days after, we may not know. >> we're not going to know on wednesday morning. we're not going to know for a number of weeks. and conceivably if it got into the legal arena, we might not know until after christmas. >> reporter: if you win, are you going to washington as a different republican than you were before? >> absolutely. >> reporter: you are? >> i'm going as a different person. a different person. look at what i've just gone through. >> reporter: you're humbled. >> absolutely. to go around the state from t

senate in alaska. >> reporter: meanwhile, joe miller's momentum is waning. documents released tuesday show that when he was a government lawyer he used government computers for political purposes. miller later admitted to lying about it. >> hello, alaska. >> reporter: so he brought out his biggest weapon to fight back. >> joe miller is ready to fight for us in washington, d.c. >> reporter: yet democrats now think scott mcadams could pull off an upset. so the party is pouring in money. >> my wife told me i better start wearing a tie so i can look senatorial. >> reporter: for murkowski to win, she needs not only republicans, but also independents and democrats. but history is not on murkowski's side. no write-in candidate has ever won a statewide race here in alaska. and the last person to do it for the u.s. senate was strom thurman in 1954. >> fellow alaskans. >> reporter: yet joe miller has worried many in alaska with his calls for a dramatically smaller federal government. one-third of all jobs in the state are tied to the federal government. and for every d

>> see, we disagree with joe miller's position.start with that equal protection clause and look back at the process -- look at the florida case, felling, where the due process of the review of the ballots were done in a number of different jurisdictions in different areas across the state. here in alaska, you can see behind me, all the write in counts are being done in one room by one team. the same team and in fact, the one individual makes the decision on whether it counts or not is the director of collections. a single person. therefore, we argue there is no violation of due process because everybody is being treated the same. >> gregg: would you agree that if there is evidence of voters being disenfranchised, that's a violation of federal law? >> up to this point, as of right now, there have been no allegations of fraud or voter intimidation that's been filed with the attorney general of alaska, with my office, nor with the division of elections. if there was allegations, we'd like to see them. >> gregg: well, joe miller, in hi

she kept going after losing the primary to joe miller. ving up saying he may request a recount. >>> pacific gas and electric plans to buy more homes in hinckley, california, affect by chromium. the town made famous by the film. real-life brock vich helped win a settlement against pg & e with chromium in the ground water. >>> there it goes. that was ceneca bridge over the illinois river. near perfect implosion and blew it up in seconds. the center span of the bridge implo imploded, fell 50 feet into the water below. someone that won on a $2 lottery got to push the boom button. $24 million replacement bridge opened to traffic about two weeks ago. >> wonder how the fish felt about that. >>> what a comeback for general motors. in nearly two years from bankruptcy to going public with the first stock offering since being bailed out. >> cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow is live at new york stock exchange. we'll hear a beepg of a horn instead of the bell and you spoke to the ceo dan ackerson. what did he tell you? >> reporter: that's right. this is the

that joe miller, mr.hts joe miller is now quite literally trying to make a federal case, federal case out of how the ballots are being counted in his race. and the state government of alaska is not having it. an assistant state attorney general writing the plaintiff miller in this case has attempted to dress his state law claims in federal question clothing authorized to go forum shopping. the alaska court system is the proper forum for this case. the parties have until next week to finish arguing this case so bill keeps getting hairier. the only thing woolier about the story than bill at this point is that mr. miller late in the game has brought on board who i think is a new campaign adviser for his campaign, new adviser to challenge write-in ballots by the dozen. his name is floyd brown. if you're old enough you may remember floyd brown for his iconically racist willie horton ad from the 1988 presidential race. more recently he founded citizens united. yes, that citizens united and he's been the proprie

>>neil: we are watching closely, joe miller. be well. >> lisa murkowski, the invite goes on.today. 5,000 salad bars. and me. it is over. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart are teaming up bring you a low-price medicare prescription drug pn called the humana walmart-preferred prescription plan. it's a new plan that covers both brand and generic prescriptions and has the lowest-priced national premium in the country of only $14.80 per month nd in-store copays as low as $2. when you could save over $450 a year, you can focus on the things that really matter. ♪ go to walmartom for details. >>neil: they are coming. i am not a fan of sool lad bars. not all salad bars but not this. the white house announcing a new plan to place up to 5,000 salad bars in public schools across the country. and rebecca is thin, beautiful, and very fit so i am glad she is here on remote. who is the government to decide to set up salad bars? >> they are coming and i could not be happier because the school environment is terrible for a very long time and it is about time we did something. >>neil: but is

write in had 40% of the vote while joe miller had 34%. with the majority of the 93,000 ballots now counted, nearly all of them have been for murkowski, setting her up for an improbable victory. >> the whole conservative movement got behind miller and thought that murkowski was done for is dumbfounded that this was able to happen. >> reporter: murkowski could become the first senate write-in candidate since 1954 to win, but miller isn't backing down still hoping the write-in won't write him off. ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. >> glor: the cholera crisis in haiti appears to be getting worse and stretching the country's health care facilities far beyond their capacities tonight. a new u.n. report says some 800 people have already died. it says 12,000 others have been hospitalized. it also says up to 200,000 haitians might contract the disease. the first snowstorm of the season is packing a punch in minnesota. officials there declared a snow emergency in the twin cities and power has been knocked out to 65,000 people. the storm is expected

now she is calling for joe miller to stand down. what is joe going to do? we'll ask him.blican nominee for alaska senate joe miller with me now. they say it's over joseph. >> well, neil, you know, it's never over until the count is done. i encourage people to recognize 255,000 votes were cast. in the u.s. senate race. right now what we have is about a 2,000 vote difference. so less than 1%. we still have military ballots left to come in. i'm less cautiously optimistic than i was before, but i think we owe it to the voters of the state of alaska, to continue the count and make sure it's done properly, to ensure that there is integrity as part of the process. >> neil: where do you get the 2,000 vote gap? they have it around 10,000. where do you get 2,000? >> the 10,000 comes from the unelected bureaucrat making the call on the ballot in the divisional election. that's the new standard that has never been applied to write-in candidates in alaska. we have a pending case about that. if you take out the contested ballots, then you are at the 2,000 spread, which is again much le

she went after them very,ç very strong, and demonized joe miller.could see that in the advertising. >> woodruff: very quickly, i have to ask you, what is sarah palin saying in all this? she did endorse joe miller. >> i haven't heard from her in the last couple of days. i think people like sarah palin get involved when victory is at hand and make themselves scarce when things aren't going so well. and they aren't going so well right now for joe miller. >> woodruff: all right, we are going to leave it with that. michael carey, joining us from anchorage. thank you. >> thank you. >> brown: we have two more post-election stories coming up: what the results could mean for health care reform and historians beschloss, smith, and gage. plus: haiti's latest crisis and the six-year ordeal of ingrid betancourt. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: wall street got a big boost today from the federal reserve's plan to spend $600 billion on boosting the economy. the dow jones industrial average had its highe

joe miller was clearly appealing to that more conservative element. but in our state, we've got over 54% of the electorate that chooses not to align themselves with any party at all-- not republican, not democrat, not green, not anything. and so it was important to make sure that all alaskans, regardless of your political stripes, felt that they had somebody who is going to represent their best interests. i think that's what this election was about. they wanted somebody that was going to be a consensus builder, someone that was going to work to bring people together to really work to effectively govern. that's what alaskans are looking for and i think that's what you saw in the outcome of these numbers. >> woodruff: so you did, as you're suggesting, had to rely on democrats, independents, and other voters to win. what do you think those non-republicans are looking for from you in the years to come? and is this going to change your approach to being a senator? >> well, i think what they are looking for is the same thing that any alaskan is looking for:

that means if you throw out all of those ballots that joe miller doesn't think should be counted for things like spelling errors. he's even got a court case to try to get them thrown out, she's still beating him bip more than 2,000 votes. miller said two days ago if he doesn't see a clear path to victory, he would secede. he now wants a hand recount. he says his ballots should undergo the same type of scrutiny her ballots have undergone. he also says there might be some voter fraud and has expressed concerns about the voting machines. here's representatiwhat represem both sides have had to say. >> i think giving the results we've seen now, we've reached the point, and i hope we can keep joe miller at her word. >> it's not up to her to declare universal victory. and we want what's established to be the standard of review, and that's likely going to be something that the court that has to decide. >> reporter: now, here's the interesting thing. alaska doesn't do hand recounts. any recount would be done with the help of machines. and according to the division of elections, it would have t

be right back with joe miller of alaska after this. ! $ / 0 i >> vote counters tallied the el veks votes. in this kras they will decide the winner. >> miller paid a surprise visit to the county center to thanks his volunteers and encourage them to keep up the fight. challenging murkowski votes that are not spelled perfectly. in many cases observers are objecting when murkowski is posted but there is a comma or the word republican after this. >> i think what needs to be applied is a state statute. it makes it clear as to what is required. our position is you tell matly that is going to be determined i believe by a court. >> the election supervisor has been allowing so long as they can sound out lieu could i ski. lieu could i ski's comment we will win the victory. >> we are going to win them on the challenge it's a matter of time before that becomes official. >> the county will be done by middle of next week. if the frevend continues it looks like senator murkowski has won one hope. they were eventually thrown out by a judge. >> thank you v

onto joe miller. i love these tweets.the campaign, he starts saying i think i'll do some house hunting while i'm in d.c. guess i should pick out some office furniture as well while i'm in d.c. then this is a matter ofç the name plaque for the door. then my sincere appreciation from the warm welcome from future colleagues in d.c. okay. and then he turns around and loses. was this the single cockiest politician of our life. >> house hunting in alaska, is that when you shoot your house from helicopter? and you know that joe miller was doing all this house hunting and furniture shopping during his lunch break on his coworkers' computers. >> he got in trouble for that on a separate case. he's high stepping. he's at his own 30 yard line. he's ready to swipe the ball do you think there's any chance that's why he lost? you know, sticking to his true core values as a tea partyer, they are sticklers for spelling. >> and health care reform, i want none of it. then they get into a meeting talking about what kind of health care they'

the question, did joe miller's untrustworthy, thin beard do him in in the end?ah palin tells barbara walters she thinks she could beat barack obama in 2012. the question is, could she? >>> and tiger woods and his p.r. and marketing team open their hearts, admitting to personal failings in a drippy

tea party republican joe miller leads with 87,000 votes but incumbent republican lisa murkowski-- who a write-in campaign-- trails by fewer than 10,000 and with more than 10,000 write-ins still to be counted, murkowski is confident of victory because she's been getting nearly 90% of the write-in votes. murkowski would be the first candidate elected to the senate as a write-in since strom thurmond in 1954 and she can't wait to see how it will all play out. >> this is a whole new world for me and it will be a whole new world for my colleagues in dealing with me. >> nice to see you. >> couric: murkowski is back in washington. >> nice art work! >> couric: this time she's making sure everyone knows how to spell her name. >> running in a write-in campaign against my party's wishes demonstrates that it's either political courage or just plain crazy. i am now conceding the race for the republican nomination. >> couric: beaten in the g.o.p. primary by tea party favorite and sarah palin endorsed joe miller, in some ways the loss was murkowski's gain, breathing new life into a candidate who assu

will joe miller agree with that outcome? she'll be joining us live. >> brooke burke will be here and she has ideas for kids coming up in the holiday season and we'll talk with the senator who was the first and lone democrat to say we should not have earmarks. she never brought an earmark home to her state and join us and tell us why. >> she said yesterday those body searches with patdowns are just love taps. also, michelle bachmann from the great state of minnesota joins us along with trace adkins, once upon a time louisiana oilman and now a big country singing star will be joining us live from nashville. >> and a new freshman senator from the state of south dakota and she has achieved a place in leadership, why did that happen? we'll ask that about her. >> she's a freshman that can wear pink. what's news? >> fox news alert. we are just learning that a suspicious device was found at nambia's main airport. i forgot my i. i need to play more wheel of fortune. the suitcase contained batteries attached by wires to a fuse in a cl

joe miller wants that to stop and filed a lawsuit.filed an injunction to stop those ballots from being counted. the judge, the court wouldn't issue that but is going to hear arguments. this is going to be a pro-tacted legal battle. only time will tell. >> thank you, shannon trafbs from juneau, alaska. appreciate that. >>> performer kanye west tweeting about his "today" show interview, and he's not happy with mat hauer. we're getting the lowdown in our showbiz update. what? i didn't buy this cereal to sweet talk your taste buds it's for my heart health. so i can't have any? if you can deprive me of what can help lower my cholesterol... and live with yourself. right. mmm, i worry about your mother. cry herself to sleep every night over my arteries, but have yourself a bowl. good speech dad. [ whimper ] [ male announcer ] honey nut cheerios tastes great and its whole grain oats can help lower cholesterol. bee happy. bee healthy. i worry about my son playing football. which is why i'm really excited. because toyota developed this software

senator lisa murkowski is leading joe miller in the race for alaska's senate seat. that she's won about 97% of the write-in vote, she went after the one person who boosted joe miller's campaign, sarah palin. >> she would not be my choice for president. i just do not think that she has{ that -- those leadership qualities, that intellectual curiosity that allows for building good and great policies. i don't think that she enjoyed governing. i don't think she liked to get down into the policy. >> michael carey is a columnist with the "anchorage daily news," shoshanna walsh is with the daily beast. she essentially called her a dope. >> those aren't the words she used. they do not get along. i don't think this was surprising that lisa murkowski is not going to back sarah palin. you have to remember that sarah palin has gone after lisa murkowski pretty hard during this process. she slammed lisa murkowski. she called her shameless throughout the process on her facebook post about joe miller. >> michael, help me educate a national audience of the family history here. i gues

joe miller was making noise, but maybe the noise subsided. dan springer was in alaska and covered all of this for us in our bureau at seattle. he's done, right? no protesting? >> we have not heard his reaction or from his spokesperson. if it's close, he will ask for a recount. he will have to pay for it if it exceeds .5%, which it does. he's going to have a 10,000 vote deficit to murkowski. there are 700,000 overseas votes to be counted today, but it's not enough to make up the difference. yes, the a.p. feels -- he's known this for some time, several days we have known that he's not able to catch up to her. it was a matter of time. he will be back in anchorage tonight. she will claim victory. will he ask for a recount? we don't know. >> dan has been covering this for us. joe miller, the tea party backed candidate who won the republican primary and has lost in the counting, will join us live on your world with constitut neil . top of the hour on "your world." democrats in the house decided who will lead them through the rebuilding process. nex

be right back with joe miller of alaska after this.like to hear they've done a great job caring for their teeth. that's why i recommend a rinse like crest pro health complete. it's a more comple way to a better dental check-up. giving you a clean, healthy mouth. new crest pro health complete rinse. challenge the need for such heavy measures with olay. new regenerist micro-sculpting serum for firmer skin in 5 days. pretty heavy lifting for such a lightweight. [ female announcer ] olay regenerist. i got an egg a candy necklace an orange a band-aid a stamp helium i got a mustache [pop] lipstick >> vote counters tallied the el veks votes. in this kras they will decide the winner. >> miller paid a surprise visit to the county center to thanks his volunteers and encourage them to keep up the fight. challenging murkowski votes that are not spelled perfectly. in many cases observers are objecting when murkowski is posted but there is a comma or the word republican after this. >> i think what needs to be applied is a state statute. it makes it

joe miller is suing to stop the state from counting ballots that misspell murkowski's name. and now the first interview since filing the suit. joe, why file this lawsuit now? >>guest: well we are interested in the rule of law being followed. we have a situation now where the rules are being made up as we go along. in this state, we had a state statue applied with a write in campaign, for several others including for taylor in 1998 and it was a different standard. we want the law applied fairly and we do not have subjective standard being applied in 15 different ways. we think it is important that state law be followed. >> critics will say this is sour grapes. give us details on what you found that pushed you to file suit. >> it is not sour grapes. two months ago the senator announced a write in campaign. at the beginning of the campaign she spent hundreds of thousands advertising that people that wanted to write her name in needed to do it right and an ad was a spelling beacon test and she passed out thousands of wristbands and she knew the standard, and a day ago, the divis

. >>> joe miller is desperate.the ballot counting in los angeles his camp is encouraging alaskans to call a hotline if they felt pressured at the ballot box or want to report vote fraud. he filed a lawsuit to stop the counting. still half of more than 90,000 write-in votes have been counted. 90% of thoesz go to murkowski. >> we are absolutely interested in maintaining the integrity of the process. >> the miller campaign is realizing they are not getting ahead with the challenge ballots. this is an act of desperation. >>> nbc's kristin welker joins me from alaska. the count is ongoing ath this point. what other roadblocks may still be in the way? >> good question, contessa. yesterday a representative with joe miller's campaign came forward and said they are going to file a second lawsuit in juneau asking for voter rolls. they want to compare the voter rolls to the ballots being cast. they are alleging that a lot of people are calling joe miller and saying they were victims of voter fraud or intimidation. when we pre

i want to bring in randy desoto, the campaign spokesperson for joe miller. among the miller campaign as you guys see the way the vote counts are going, 90% going unchallenged and another 7% or so that are challenged, but still being given to her? >> well, our goal has been since the beginning just to make sure that all the votes that didn't match the law's requirement, that they were written as on the statement of her candidacy, declaration of candidacy would be segregated out for further review and so that's been our mission during this whole process and so far, we're going to keep at it. we've got at least another day or so of looking at the ballots, the write-in candidacy ballots. >> as we see the process going on behind us now, we did see a subtle change yesterday. we started to see fewer challenges of votes where it was obvious that lisa murkowski's name was written percentages and the percentage of challenges went down. how do you explain that. >> i mean, after today. the first few days going at about 89% and it went up to 90% going unchallenged or so,

the ballot count is being challenged on two fronts by joe miller's campaign.e ballot counted for murkowski is being automatically challenged at the table by miller's campaign. and in a lawsuit miller's legal team is seeking to keep election officials from counting or otherwise accepting as valid any write-in ballots in which the name of the candidate is spelled incorrectly. or on which the name of the candy dade is not written as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy. part of their argument, cannot divine the intent of the voter. miller's legal team cites bush versus gore. but things start to get really interesting when you start to look at the language of the lawsuits' central argument. it says that many of the people who cast write-in ballots where murkowski's name is spelled, did so deliberately to protest murkowski's write-in candidacy. so miller is saying he can divine the voter's intent but no one else can do it. nick tried to rewrite what miller's lawsuit should say? i had to explain to him that utterly bogus lawsuits always say ridiculous

unless you're joe miller. the math is now completely against him. only hundreds of ballots left to count, lisa murkowski leads miller by over 10,000 votes, that includes about 8,000 votes miller is contesting. even if he got all the ballots left to count he cannot win. just moments ago, senator murkowski declared victory against the sarah palin-backed tea party candidate. the senator put her re-election hopes in the hands of voters staging an unprecedented write-in campaign. the results are even more unprecedented than the campaign itself. the murkowski campaign posted a message online today thanking supporters. they said you couldn't do it, but you proved them wrong. miller's campaign site still reads, it's not over yet. joining me now in her first interview since claiming victory, the first senate candidate to win a write-in campaign since strom thurmond, lisa murkowski. thank you for taking the time to talk with us tonight. >> thank you. it's an historic moment here in alaska, so we're excited. >> it is. i want to take a minute to listen to what

. >>> lisa murkowski and joe miller in the race. for the first time, murkowski is the one with the lead. we are live from anchorage, alaska with the latest. kristen. >> reporter: good morning, tom. yesterday was a very big day for senator lisa murkowski. it's important to point out the lead includes 7,600 contested ballots. they are disputed for things like spelling errors and illegibility problems. today, senator murkowski may surpass his total in undisputed ballots. it's important to watch them. at the end of the process, it's impossible for joe miller to catch up to lisa murkowski's lead, even if he throws them out. it's tough to build an argument this case should go to court. lisa murkowski's camp was all but proclaiming victory yesterday. joe miller says he's not conceding. >> obviously, if it's completely impossible, we are not going to spend a lot of efforts or time or energy. i think it's very important to respect those serving our country and wait for those ballots to come in before we call a race. it's critical. >> reporte

and joe miller the pale-in senator has had a series of problems. you think it's pretty much done for rand paul and marco rubio? do we agree they look pretty strong. >> florida could be a surprise -- chris: yeah, with chris coming week.e in the when john f. kennedy was elected, it was a cliff hanger p and here's the nbc news coverage. >> got the filter, got the blend. news election central, jeff huntly and david brinkley. >> senator kennedy cast his vote today at branch public library. somebody was standing outside holding saying "the landslide begins here." we'll see about the accuracy about that later in the evening. >> we're all waiting in this room to see who will be the next president of the united states. building is a national guard army. it is about a mile and a quarter from where the senate lives. he has two speeches. one if it's yes. the other if it's no. eli hughes wonders which he'll give. nixon e now with the party in los angeles, california. >> vice president nixon himself returned to the hotel. he's up in his suite. he returned here a

but joe miller's claims seem absurd. i'm no fan of murkowski. but you spelled her name in a weird way, come on. and forget the spelling, you wrote it in a weird way? i'm not buying that. what is the first step to becoming a big game show winner? here's a catch, without going on the show? the answer, become a gop candidate. we'll explain this fascinating phenomenon when we come back. if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 are still talking about retirement tdd# 1-800-345-2550 like it's some kind of dream. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's either this magic number i'm supposed to reach, or... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's beach homes or it's starting a vineyard. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 come on! tdd# 1-800-345-2550 just help me figure it out in a practical, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's-make-this-happen kind of way. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a vineyard? give me a break. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announ

. >> i wonder what you of course of joe miller's decision to see the murkowski's campaign. >> i understand joe's frustration. i'm listening to what joe is saying. they didn't use the same standards to count ballots. i had some of those concerns in minnesota on a much, much closer race in which all the ballots counted, when they were all counted and i won. when they were recounted, i won. it did ultimately change the outcome. i will be straightforward. i think that race is over. there's nothing that would change the counting. i made a decision in my race. let's not go any further. could i have brought it to the supreme court? yes. i made that decision. that was my decision. i would offer joe miller advice, i think it's, you know, should be time to move on, that there's not much to gain by extending the process. it's been extended. they have done now this count of the absentee ballots. probably time to move on. rather than him initiating another legal proceeding. >> we have 30 seconds for closing questions. >> senator, do you expect if you didn't take the job option we talked about at the rn

the campaign remains optimistic that joe miller will be the next u.s. senator from the state of alaska. >> miller, our next yiewt senator. >> reporter: the tea party and sarah palin started backing miller months ago in his effort to take the ?aept seat away from murkowski. he's not ready to quit yet. >> it's been 200 days. they've been long days but they've been good days. >> reporter: the days are going to get even longer as miller and mruczkowski higher lawyers from the lower 48 to battle over the ballots. a couple of weeks before we know for sure. >> but we sure like the trend right now. >> reporter: she would be the first write-in candidate to written since 1954 but history can be a long time in the maki making. >> glor: so many house democrats lost their bids for reelection, when they return to washington later this month, they'll be lame duction but still working on critical legislation. what might the upcoming session accomplish then? joel brown has an advanced look. >> reporter: democrats are still stinging from tuesday night's republican tidal w

is that where you think joe miller's votes are? >> well, we know we are going to gain votes there.nd again, a large percentage of those are military. we have anecdotal evidence from people at the polling sites right now that have seen the ballots that were running very, very strong amongst those and we expect to gain significant votes, to the -- >> i know you don't like to think about this but if she beat you, why did she beat you as the write in candidate. >> now we are foescusing on makg sure we have accuracy in the counting and people on the ground to review the process and that is our main focus. >> tomorrow the rubber hits the road. the counting starts tomorrow, wednesday, in alaska -- >> we actually have -- have some ballots that are being counted today and it is our understanding the absentees themselves will start with the count today. the write ins tomorrow and the absentees today. bill: a nail-biter. good luck, thanks for coming on today, joe miller, also our invitation is out there as always to lisa murkowski, if she takes up or invitation. we'll certainly put her on tv

but joe miller says he's not ready to concede and the counting continues for a seventh day.hey will count about 9,000 absentee ballots they hope to be counting. >> kristen, thank you very much for that update. >>> more than 90 new members getting a taste of washington and the new-found power that goes with it. right now the freshman are getting their bearings and figuring out where to live. the class of 2010 got to town on a change of wave, but could it come crashing. congressman aaron shock and former speaker of the house, dennises hastert. thank you, gentlemen, for being here. you know what it is like to be a new kid on the block. the question a lot of people have because there are so many new members of congress, will they change washington, is that what the chrisette voe-- what w the new members of congress? >> 90 members coming out of 345. nearly a quarter of the congress. no question that even the new democrats and republicans will bring a different flavor, a different perspective on the world and the members who they've replaced but the realities of washington, d.c.,

how many ballots would have to be thrown out, all together, for joe miller to win this race?that's the tricky math question, because we still have the absentee ballots coming in. assuming everything stays flat, remains the same and we have this 13 1/2 thousand difference between the two, about 15-16 percent of the votes would have to bed out in order for miller to close that gap. he thinks that it's a possibility. it's a long shot but he's cautiously optimistic it could happen, he points to previous write-in races where at least 7-8 percent of the votes have been tossed out and he thinks that bodes well for him and he certainly is in it to win it and has legal teams standing by as does lisa murkowski to ensure that the votes that they believe should count do count and those that don't aren't included. jon: this is an awful lot like that minnesota race, two years ago, that had norm coleman, incumbent, versus al franken or maybe even shades of george w. bush versus al gore. >> right. and in fact, we have an attorney from both of those races coming in on lisa murkowski's side of

, even with all of palin's help. >> are you going to be there for joe miller? > reporter: despite everything she did for miller, palin's supporters weren't all on board. >> we need a fella whose guts match ours. i haven't seen that of joe. >> reporter: his name is old jack. yes, he says his first name is old. and he's been a palin backer since she was running for governor. today, he says he's not so sure about palin's credentials for a larmer office. >> for governor she was okay. but for a larger picture, we need a wag gone master that's more knowledgeable. more tuned into the world. >> reporter: in fact, across the nation, for all her mile here profile attention, palin's endorsements were a very mixed bag. >> mamma grizzly, yes. oh, it is so good to be here. >> reporter: as america's officially mamma grizzly, she hopscotched across the country, picking and choosing at times ran don endorsements in her own confident style. >> i want to thank everyone for coming out. >> reporter: while miller awaits his fate, six of her other senate hopefuls actually won, includi

despite all that celebrating, joe miller says he has no plans to concede. argues the race is far from over. in an interview with fox news, miller said his campaign is looking to investigate the state's voting machines and possibly request a recount. >> we may actually ask for a hand count of our ballots, as well. that was the benefit that she got. we'll probably ask for that, as well. we are going to ensure that we maintain our position that the integrity of the vote matters, and especially these military votes matter. we want to make sure, like i said earlier, that those ballots went out. >> still, the election commission is expected to certify the results in a week or so. murkowski would be the first write-in candidate to win election to the senate since south carolina's strom thurmond did it in 1954. >>> over in the house, democrats have voted to make nancy pelosi minority leader in the new congress. despite the party's landslide defeat in the midterms. pelosi beat out conservative democrat heath shuler of north carolina, who had been arguing over the la

. >> reporter: lisa murkowski and joe miller, caught in a cliffhanger. murkowski, the most visible write-in candidate, celebrated tuesday when returns showed the write-in ballots topped republican joe miller by 13,000 votes. if she wins, she would be the second write-in candidate in u.s. history to claim a senate seat. >> we recognize that we are not yet complete with making history, but we are poised. and it feels pretty good. >> reporter: how realistic do you think it is for you to win this race? >> you're missing the 31,000 absentee ballots that have not been counted yet. that's a significant component. >> reporter: in a campaign full of controversies, now another one. which write-in ballots should officials count as legitimate? the miller camp has argued that if murkowski's name is misspelled it should not be counted. election officials have said they will be looking at voter intent. but political analysts wonder what exactly that will mean for the counting process. >> there will be attorneys on the shoulder, on both shoulders, of whoever that person

joe miller is the senate candidate, lisa murkowski gets be, but she is ahead in the polls. >> to miller has had a bad month, with charges against them having -- joe miller has had a bad month, with the charges against them haven't been disclosed with the ethical problems he had great he is nosediving in the polls. >> for the record, politico, abc news, ne"new york times" saying that bill clinton trying to talk kendrick meek out of the florida senate race. he says, no, i am in. >> if she takes the right negative ads as easily defined, i will take mine off, no question b. >> i will take out anything that could be construed as a personal attack, but i don't think we can take down the ads that talk about where governor brown stands on issues. i just a big is the right thing to do. -- i just don't think it is the right thing to do. >> meg whitman has spent in excess of $120 million of her own -- >> up to $160 million. she has broken all records. she has basically builds a republican party that is the mega wittman party. she has done the ground game, advertising and the hispanic community and