Watching Reruns Of Barmy Miller, Part 4

Joe Miller is already questioning the Alaska Senate vote and is ready to go with his army of lawyers, even though the write-in ballots that may put Lisa Murkowski in the Senate seat have yet to be even opened.

First, he released a statement objecting to the decision to move up the count to this week. Originally, the Division of Elections announced that the write-in votes would be counted on November 18. But last week they pushed it up to this Wednesday, the 10th.

"Given the geographical and financial challenges of getting observer teams assembled in Juneau," Miller said in the statement, "the earlier date makes it extremely difficult to honor the process, set out by law. The Miller Campaign is concerned with ensuring a fair and accurate counting of the ballots."

Next, Miller questioned the partiality of the Lt. Governor when it comes to overseeing the ballot-counting process. Matt Lewis of Politics Daily reported that in a conference call with bloggers on November 4, Miller claimed that Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell was appointed by Murkowski and has ties to her family, adding that "it appears that his bias is playing out in the decisions that he's making, especially those that are directly contrary to the law." 

Only one problem, Sarah Palin appointed Craig Campbell, not Murkowski.  Oh, but Miller's paranoia gets worse.

On Saturday, Miller released a statement noting that his campaign is "concerned that the Absentee Ballot validation process began yesterday at 10 a.m without notification to the campaign." Miller said: "All Alaskans deserve a free, open and fair election. Unfortunately, the State Division of Elections has decided to call that process into question with the constant maneuvering of dates and procedures."

"Our democratic voting process has at its foundation the Constitution and the statutes of this state, and any manipulation of this process for the purposes of expediency or convenience compromises those principles," the statement said.

But Gail Fenumiai, the director of the Alaska Division of Elections, responded that the Miller campaign failed to comply with notification rules, the Fairbanks News-Miner reports. "Campaigns and parties identify a primary contact person for each election," she said. "The Miller campaign did not identify such a contact person for the November general election and therefore did not receive individualized notice of the ballot review times."

And this goes back to his standard play:  I think Miller here is making his campaign case for repealing the 17th Amendment, making the direct elections of a Senator so phenomenally insane that people actually use his own run for Senate as a direct example of why it should be done away with.  He's going to do everything he can to challenge every aspect of this, much like Norm Coleman did with Al Franken in 2009.  his goal is to make this so absurd that people actually consider changing the Constitution to prevent it.

Barmy Miller strikes again, but this time I'm convinced there's a method to his madness.