and for more of my interview with senator murkowski, you can go to cbsnews.com.ah palin campaigned against murkowski or, as the former governor might say, she refudiated her. palin invented that word and today it became the new oxford american dictionary's word of the year. refudiate is a verb used loosely to mean reject. it's a combination of refute and repudiate. palin has defended her creation saying even shakespeare coined a word or two. and up next, all you need is love and an itunes account to own a piece of the beatles. beatles. forty, your body can lose up to eight percent of muscle per decade? try... each serving provides twenty-six vitamins and minerals. plus it has fifteen grams of protein to help maintain muscle. compare it to the leading competitor. boost high protein also has calcilock blend, with calcium and vitamin d to help maintain strong bones. get complete, balanced nutrition so you can stay active. try boost high protein. also available in powder. this has been medifacts for boost. whoa! that achy cold needs alka-seltzer plus! it rushes multi

partially because she wants to see murkowski lose.ka's two biggest political family names, murkowski and palin, are seen by some as a modern day hatfield and mccoy, playing out a bitter rivalry. >> hi, i'm scott mocadams. >> reporter: a former high school football coach, who wound up the democratic candidate in this red state only because no one else wanted the job. >> so much of this campaign has been about the family feud between the murkowskis and the palins. and sarah palin's surrogate joe miller. we've 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 o

she slammed lisa murkowski. 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 guess it begins with governor frank murkowski having picked his daughter for the senate over governor palin? >> no, governor palin was not really a candidate for the united states senate, but she was the candidate who beat frank murkowski, lisa's father, in the election four years ago, and so i think it all starts right there in the family differences. >> palin becomes governor by defeating frank murkowski and then palin, of course, was for miller and not murkowski in this race. talk to me about the status of this recount. what's being allowed? what is not being permitted thus far? >> they've counted almost -- >> go ahead, michael. >> okay. they've counted somewhere around 100,000 votes. eventually counting 100,000 votes.100,000 votes. they're counting right know today in juneau and getting to the end of the absentee question

also, lisa murkowski took her best shot against sarah palin.now that the alaska senator leads joe miller, she said palin lacks quote leadership qualities and curiosity that are needed to be president. and some advice for the national football league. if you want to cut down on head injuries, consider ditching the face mask. we're joined by two incoming members. steve sutherland and karen bass. mr. sutherland, you're in the midst of orientation. what have you learned in the last 48 hours that you department know? >> i'll tell you, we're busy learning the lay of the land. even the floor plans are all new to us. we're learning about ourç bulg and how to go about hiring our congressional staff which will be helpful you know, going forward. it's been a lot of information. >> do you feel more of an aallegiance to the tea party or grand ole party. >> let me say this. i am a candidate who has run on the desire of representing all the people of florida's second congressional district, so i believe that the constitution is the law of the land. i believe

in lisa murkowski's box. about 8% of all votes counted yesterday were counted for lisa murkowski but contested. that essentially means folks from the miller camp believe they shouldn't have been counted for her. these votes are going to be key ultimately if this goes to a court of law, because those contested ballots are going to be the ones that the court reviews and looks at first. the murkowski camp -- or the miller camp, rather, arguing all along any variation of lisa murkowski's name should not be counted at a valid ballot. the officials elections say it's their job to determine voter intent. if they can phonetically pronounce a name they're going to count it for lisa murkowski. we saw a lot of variations, murkowski spemed with an e or a y instead of an i at the end. by the end the day, some of murkowski's people were actually saying that the miller camp was rejecting some of the ballots on frugalous grounds. miller people disagree. here's what they both had to say about that. take a listen. >> the mille

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 wave. >> we've come to take our government back. >> reporter: no less than 60 house democrats were ousted by voerts-- voters. november 15 they'll limp back to washington for a lame duck session, still the majority, but not for long. >> they will come back

thank you. >> well, murkowski's victory speech aside, miller who beat murkowski in the republican primary is not giving up, saying, quote, after you all the absentee ballots are in and we further review the procedures and results we may ask for a recount. less than one 1% vote separates my and lisa's totally. who knows what the difference would be. >> right here at 7:15 eastern, senator lisa murkowski is going to be joining us. she's going to be talking about her historic campaign and how she plans to make peace with her party. >>> it was a blow to sarah palin in her home state. in an interview with barbara walters, palin said she's already looking for a run for the white house and believes she can beat president obama. >> i'm looking at the lay of the land now and trying figure that out, if it's a good thing for the country, for the discourse, for my family. if it's a good thing. >> if you ran for president, could you beat barack obama? >> i believe so. >> well, a candidate has to say they can win, just for the record. but a cnn opinion research corporation poll doesn't agree with her. t

murkowski celebrated with supporters fizz last night in anchorage. she had to defeat both the democratic nominee and tea party republican joe miller, who beat her for the gop nomination. murkowski saluted the late alaska senator ted stevens for inspiring her to swim against the political tide. >> ted's motto was to hell with politics, let's just do what's right for alaska, and that's what we did. that's what we did. >> miller still has not conceded defeat but with nearly all ballots counted alaska election officials confirm murkowski's victory. >>> now to general motors, which is rising today from the ashes of bankruptcy and government bail-out happening on wall street where investors are expected to snap up hundreds of millions of shares of gm stock yielding big profits for u.s. taxpayers. whit johnson has more now from washington. good morning, whit. >> betty, good morning. for the first time since 2004, gm is on track for a full-year profit. and wall street's renewed confidence could help the automaker turn that critical corner. general motors is

on the candidate the question is did the voter intend to vote for murkowski or lackey? >> reporter: it may not matter. 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 ap has already called the race for senator murkowski. though joe miller has not given up the fight. senator murkowski will be joining news a minute to go on the record. former vice president dan quayle will also be here. but first newt gingrich joins us live. first where are you, sir? >> i'm in cedar rapids, iowa at the barnes & noble. >> greta: the news from the state of alaska. what do you make of that? senator murkowski a write-in candidate. >> a great personal achievement. i think hates been 56 years since anyone has won a write-in vote for the u.s. senate. remarkable personal achievement. helped by key mistakes on the part of joe mill lawyer. nonetheless, she had the courage to won. she put together the organization, she took advantage of his mistakes. if ap is right and she does up as the winner, this has to be seen as a personal achievement that people have to respect for her courage and the fact that the people of alaska were prepared to write had her name in. >> greta: what about the role of the he party in alaska for this race?

i want to quote you something senator murkowski said today. she said an earmark moratorium will not reduce the level of spending by one cent or decrease the deficit. we recognize we need to stop out of control spending. the logic seems pretty impeccable to me when it seems we're talking less than one half of 1% of the budget. >> it's still $15.9 billion. and clearly, you're not going to get one to one complete savings. if you eliminate earmarks, you try to reduce some of the spending and reduce the scope of the budget to that same level, you're going to save billions of dollars. we have a big hole and we're going to do everything we can. congress should be looking in the couch cushions to save money. >> it seems to me the problem isn't actually the level of spending, but the degree to which the mechanism is open to abuse. i mean, it doesn't seem to me you're going to reduce spending? >> you're not going to reduce spending, i think we've made changes over the last couple years where this process is transparent. these earmarks in the middle of t

senator lisa murkowski claims victory in her alaska re-election bid. but it may not be over just yet. >>> race against time. a 3-year-old girl falls 75 feet down an irrigation well in argentina. >>> and hooter's horror. restaurant video captures an off-duty cop getting physical with a 54-year-old grandmother. >>> good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we begin this morning with beating the odd. after losing her state's republican primary, alaska's incumbent senator lisa murkowski launched a seemingly desperate write-in campaign to seep her seat. after weeks of wading through write-in ballots she's being called the winner. tracie potts with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. and it was a hard-fought one. 's difficult to win these national elections as a write-in candidate, but it appears this morning that is exactly what lowsa miami hurrica-- lisa murk done, the first person to win since strom thurmond in 1954. this was a big tea party loss in alaska.

challenging murkowski votes that are not spelled perfectly.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 very much. joe miller welcome to the program. doesn't it feel petty to argue about minor misspellings. you are a straight shooting guy war hear row and the rest isn't it below you to worry if it's m-r-i-or r-u-r. >> it is the second time to hear the division of elections has b

senator murkowski declared victory last night.e miller, is not giving up you. we'll ask our correspondent, bill wolf. bill? >> fake? i lived there for 28 hours. had a beard for three weeks. joe miller is not going quietly into that good night. we learned from the associated press, he asked a federal judge to issue a temporary or preliminary injunction against certifying the election results. on his website, he has six affiliates of alaskan voters, which suggest write-in voter fraud you and ballot box stuffing. despite the fact that the alaska republican party told him to give it up, is rage, rage, raging against the dying of the light or something less poetic. >> i don't mean to be weird, but since joe miller is still fighting, do you think you might have been a little premature in shaving off your alaska election beard? >> i did come prepared for this eventuality. >> who says you can't have it both ways? shipping's a hassle. i'll go to the mall. hey. hi. you know, holiday shipping's easy with priority mail flat rate boxes from th

. >> murkowski-- m-u-r-k-o-w-s-k-i. >> as her state's senior senator, lisa murkowski never thought she would be waging a longshot write-in campaign. >> they will have to fill in that oval. they will have to write that name, and i want you to get it right. >> reporter: this week murkowski got a big boost when the alaska supreme court ruled that voters can see a list of approved write-in candidates before they cast their ballots. >> reporter: i'm joe miller, the true conservative choice for u.s. 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

and alaska senator lisa murkowski joins us now from anchorage. senator, congratulations, how does it feel to have made a piece of history? >> well, it's... it is. it's historic, it feels great. alaskans are in a good mood today, let's put it this way. >> how confident are you that joe miller is not going to ask for a recount? i noticed the national senate republican committee is not saying whether he should concede. >> well, i don't know what joe miller will do. i certainly hope he'll take a look at the numbers. alaskans have spoken clearly and they've written it down and they wrote in my name. over 100,000 alaskans filled in that oval and row in "lisa murkowski" and they did so, for the most part, correctly. we are up over 10,000 votes. if the challenged votes that the miller camp has contested, if every single one of those were to be thrown out, i would still beat joe miller by well over 2 votes. so i think it is time to look at the votes, look at the numbers, and accept that alaskans have spoken. >> woodruff: what did you learn, senator murkow

murkowski those a high standard of a write in campaign. there are rules that go along with it, rules that have been followed throughout the course of political history and the state of alaska, and 8 percent of the ballots in taylor's bid in 1998 were disqualified and now over a day before the count begins, we get a new standard that could have been issued two months ago that doesn't follow state statute so we are saying, look, the legislature enacted a law, the legislators were elected by those if alaska and the law should be followed. the same rule she expected to fall under when she started the bid and that is why she had hundreds of thousands of advertising dedicated to teaching people how to spell her name. >>shepard: and your views on the debt commission with early proposals, $200 billion, a drop in the bucket on the total debt. what do you make of that deficit panel's recommendation? >>guest: i have not reviewed the details but this country is in trouble. if we did not get control of the deficit we will have an upside down economy as

alaska senator lisa murkowski says move on, the race is over.n and will declare victory hours from now. now she is calling for joe miller to stand down. what is joe going to do? we'll ask him. the republican 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 i

murkowski is the first write-in candidate to win a race in the u.s.nce of spelling her name correctly on the ballot. >> we made history. over 100,000 alaskans affirmatively said, it's important to me and to this election to fill in the oval and spell out my name correctly. >> murkowski also told harry she would not vote for sarah palin if the former governor ran for president in 2012. that coming off of some news from sarah palin hers who speculated about her chances in 2012 in an interview with abc. >> if you ran for president, could you beat barack obama? >> i believe so. >> a recent poll found palin was viewed favorably by 46% of americans. 49% were unfavorable. >>> steve cowan of wisconsin took an unfavorable view of her daughter bristol and arrested tuesday for allegedly blasting his tv set with a shotgun. he had been watching bristol palin on "dancing with the stars." his wife said he was upset that a political daughter was dancing on tv and felt she didn't have talent. >>> former reality tv show plo producer is redman is staying in jail for now

. >>> well, nbc news is declaring write-in candidate lisa murkowski the apparent winner in the alaskaenate race. this comes after a painstaking two-week count of handwritten ballots gave murkowski the solid edge over fellow republican joe miller. last night murkowski did claim victory, telling supporters that against the odds together they made history. >> we do the impossible immediately, miracles take a little longer. tonight after eight weeks, i think we can say our miracle is here. our miracle is here. [ applause ] >> murkowski went on to quote her mentor, the late senator ted stevens, on when she plans to do over the next years. >> there's no turning back. there's no looking back. and what a wild, wild two months that has been. but what held me, what kept my course -- and lily, this takes it back to your dad -- ted's motto was to hell with politics, let's just do what's right for alaska. and that's what we did. [ applause ] >> that's what we did. >> and did he ever. despite all that celebrating, joe miller says he has no plans to concede. he argues the race is far from over. in a

like a spelling bee. >> murkowski. polls place where i cast a ballot for lisa murkowski. >> murkowski m-u-r-k-o-s-k-e-e. murkowski. >> no. >> what is the root of the word? former not from alaska. >> do they not know who i'm voting for? am i going to mess up miller, murkowski? >> yes, i'm looking at those. they all seem to be indicating a vote for her. what's the problem? >> is it a problem? what's the confusion here? is someone faking a spelling? can you spell lisa wrong, by the way l-e-e-s-a? i don't know. >> they're also contesting correct spellings. tell me about that. >> i can tell you only about when you know you've lost, when you know it's time to give up, when you're talking about the spelling of a name, i mean, people went a long way -- this will be the first time i think somebody wins on a write-in, especially in the senate. it looks bad for his campaign to be contesting the spelling. you know, we've seen these types of things in elections before, but contesting a letter here or there? we remember the hanging

they won the primary, but it loo now like lisa murkowski may have won the general election. here's part of what she said during her victory speech last night. >> alaskans knew exactly what they were doing and they showed their intent with every letter that they put down on that ballot. >> back re another hard-fought win. we now know that representative nancy pelosi will be the minity leader in the house for t democrats. she won that election among her colleagues yesterday. a new nbc "wall street journal" poll shows that almost half of the country, %, feel positively about the republicans taking over congress, at least the house of representatives in january, and they are potive about the resulting divided government. when thanew congress meets in january, they'll have a lot of issues to deal with, but before that, the ol congress is looking at "don't ask, don't tell" on their heavy agenda. this is something that harry re says they will probably deal with after the thanksgiving break. lynn? >> tracie potts in washington. >>> o years to go before the 2012 presidential election

senator lisa murkowski. a write in candidate after he lost the primary to joe miller. mr. miller, as this count goes underway and as you know from your campaign, people had to fill in the oval and write your name. he says the candidate named murkowski seems to be getting special treatment from state officials, is that true? >> what people have done is they have filled in the oval and they have spelled the name right and miller doesn't know what to do with the fact that people actually did what they were supposed to do. what we're seeing now, i believe quite honestly are acts of desperation, we're seeing lawsuits that are being filed. we're seeing ballots that are perfectly clear, perfectly clear ballots being charged. >> many of the ballots are exactly spelled correctly. there are some that are close but not exact. there are some that say lisa m-o-r-k, or lisa m-e-r-k, they demean you, but they're not spelled exactly like you. he's contesting that he believes the name isn't spelled exactly right that it's a

murkowski is expected to declare victory any moment now.ected to be a guest on "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell immediately following this show. very much looking forward to that. when we last heard from joe miller, he was demanding a hand recount of all the ballots. mr. miller is at this hour still not conceding. should although be noted that the election results won't be officially certified by the state until the monday after thanksgiving at the earliest. still, though, the "ap's" called it, nbc news says murkowski is the apparent winner. huge news for us here at this show because of one specific thing. because of this. this is bill wolf's beard. i can't tell you what a good time we had taking this show to anchorage before the election to cover this senate race. bill wolf, our executive producer did not shave while we were on the road on that trip, and he vowed when we returned that in solidarity with the people of alaska he would not shave until the people of alaska had a new u.s. senator until this race was over. well, now the s

senator lisa murkowski claims victory in her alaska re-election bid, but it may not be over yet. >>> race against time. a 3-year-old girl falls 75 feet down an irrigation well in argentina. >>> and hooter's horror. a cop gets physical with a 54-year-old grandmother. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with beating the odds. after losing her republican primary, alaska's republican lisa murkowski launched a write-in campaign to get through the seat. she's now being called the apparent winner. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with the latest. tracie, good morning. >> lynn. good morning. it was a hard-fought win. it's difficult to win these national elections as a write-in candidate, but it appears this morning that is exactly what lisa murkowski has done. for the first time since strom thurman won as a democrat in 1954. this is a big tea party loss. she put a lot of money and support with the tea party to get involved with the opponent's campaign, joe miller. they won the primary, but it looks now like l

now joe miller is back to do it again, filing suit to stop the certification of senator murkowski. what does he know? [ male announcer ] opportunity is a powerful force. set it in motion... and it goes out into the world like fuel for the economy. one opportunity leading to another... and another. we all have a hand in it. because opportunity can start anywhere, and go everywhere. let's keep it moving. ♪ leit's true.t moving. you never forget your first subaru. ♪ i was young and i was stupid ♪ i had just turned 17 ♪ a harmonica and a box guitar ♪ ♪ in a canvas-covered wagon stuffed... ♪ [ male announcer ] while the world's been waiting on the electric car, maybe the whole time, the electric car has been waiting for this... the wattstation from ge. it's going to change the way we get to where we all want to go. ♪ i didn't think much of it till i took it apart ♪ >>neil: will fallout of the pat dan is getting worse. the local day travel season is kicking off and now they are kicking the airlines where it hurts: in the seats. forget those who opt out of the body scans the day before th

one from the murkowski camp. then that ballot is marked as voting for lisa murkowski. being questioned by the miller camp. those are what will be looked at if this matter goes to court. >>> and back here in new york, a disturbing story that has managed to shock perhaps the most hardened folks who live around here. it involves a woman who is keeping 50 cats in her very small apartment. reporter tom yomas is here. and this is more than just one of the stories that you frown and wonder what someone is thinking. this is a mental health issue. >> definitely. it's animal hoarding. it happens across the country every year. between 900,000 new cases. most of the time the animal hoarders have no idea they have a problem. this woman named carmen. she was elderly. she started with two cats five years ago. there are now 50 cats living inside her 1,000 square-foot apartment. the cats are everywhere. they walk all over the kitchen table. there was about 30 on the dining room table when we were there. they're under the beds, they're under the tables. every piece of wood in the apartm

incumbent senator lisa murkowski is on the brink of making history. he's about to become only the second person since 1954 to win a senate seat through a write-in candidacy. election officials spent seven days counting more than 100,000 write-in ballots, and lisa murkowski has built up a 10,000 vote lead over her rival, joe miller. miller argued a lot of those votes shouldn't count due to things like spelling errors. even if you toss out all of those contested ballots, she still has a very strong lead over miller. now, miller did beat murkowski during the gop primary, bolstered by the support of the tea party and sarah palin. joe miller has said he might ask for a recount. brian? >> kristen welker in that room which will fill with supporters tonight. >>> it's tempting but we should not forget this is much more than about who's in, who's out, a kind of scorecard for those who find politics a sport. election results matter profoundly. there's no better example than an issue on the table right now in washington. a new arms treaty with russia, the democra

senator murkowski joins us now from anchorage. good morning, senator. >> good morning, nice to be with you. >> talk about how important it is that people in alaska knew how to spell m-u-r-k-o-w-s he-k-i. >> we did the precedents and made history. over 100,000 alaskans affirmly said it's pont to me and to this election to fill in the oval and spell out my name correctly. to see that recorded as part of the write-in and not know, well, know did they fill in, we've now learn the -- we've now learned sclans have spoken and have written it out, as well, pretty historic. >> joe miller is threatening to demand a recount. the republican party on the other hand saying you ought to concede. should he concede? >> well, the numbers are just not there for him. and i think -- i think that mr. miller recognizes that, as well. right now, with all of the ballots that are in, we are significantly up, well over 10,000 votes, even if every ballot that the miller camp had challenged throughout this write-in campaign, even if every one of them were tos

at this pace lisa murkowski is on track mathematically to win, to win overwhelmingly actually.h lots more counting ahead. probably all weekend. and lots more hair every day on bill's now harrowing visage. by the end of this he may be able to wrap it around his head like a hat by the time this is decided because the miller campaign is apparently challenging every single ballot in which an fbi handwriting sample might reveal the slightest trace of a personality. this write-in, for example, leans too far left or runs the letters together so you'd never guess it says lisa murkowski, right? challenge. this one, another one. this one leans too far right or something. this one can't be a write-in for lisa murkowski because i don't know what, joe miller is the true conservative leaning right or something? joe miller has filed suit in federal, mark that federal court to block alaska election officials from counting write-in votes in which lisa murkowski's name is misspelled even minorly. even if the election officials think the voter clearly intended to vote for lisa murkowski. mr. mill

a 2,000 vote advantage for murkowski.lew to anchorage and will declare victory in a couple of hours. miller appears no closer to conceding. sounds like he he wants to continue with his court case even as she is certified the winner this month. >> not a question win lose or draw. consistency affly division of elections in the future. >> that was on neil cavuto's show earlier today. miller says he will make his decision on friday, shep. >> shepard: senator murkowski didn't have the support of her party during the election and the count. county party count on her vote during next session? >> well, she has maintained all along this fight that she is a g.o.p. she is a lifelong republican and will caucus with the republican party. but she also raised eyebrows when during the campaign she said, you know, this gives me more independence when i'm sent back to congress. and she exerted some of that independence today as she was leaving d.c. to head to anchorage. she said that she opposes the republican effort to ban earmarks. here

not murkowski has a similar spelling to miller. >> that's right.cally this tea party candidate who said the federal government is overreaching when he needed help, where did he go? not to state court. he went to federal court saying voter intent doesn't matter. look, a couple of voters in alaska voted for elmo, but most of them voted for lisa murkowski. the fal is the federal judge we think is likely to say voter intent does count. murkowski wins, miller loses, justice prevails. >> awesome. always great to see you all. you always make us so much smarter. >> i don't know about that, but it's sure fun. >> avery, richard, thanks so much. have a great rest of the weekend. see you next weekend. we'll be right back with more of the newsroom after this. r i got, things started changing immediately. then i wrote a letter to the food stamp office. "thank you very much, i don't need your help any more." you know now, i can actually say i bought my home. i knew that the more i dedicated... the harder i worked, the more it was going to benefit my family. this

that candidate, lisa murkowski in alaska. republican incumbent lost the primary battle to joe miller. he was backed by sarah palin and tea party. however, they counted the write in ballots and murkowski won with 10,000 vote margin. miller could challenge. while you slept, murkowski declared victory. >> i wanted to be joyful because against all odds we as alast cans together made history. you made history. thank you. >> now that all the races are over, here is what the senate will look like. 53 democrats, 47 republicans. murkowski ran as independent, but says she will caucus with gop. >>> on the house side of the hill, we know who will be leading each party. new leadership looks kind of like the old leadership. john boehner elected as speaker of the house without opposition. virginia congressman eric can tore majority leader. for democrats, nancy pelosi becomes minority leader. >>> now to corruption investigation in prince georges county. police sergeant will be in court today, one of three accused in drug and alcohol running

. >> 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