Alaskans' Favorite Republican

In the rest of the country, the Alaskan hockey mom everyone talks about is Sarah Palin. But in her home state, there is a more-popular Republican woman. And this one actually holds public office: Lisa Murkowski, the 53-year-old Republican Senator Alaskans like to know as just Lisa. The Murkowski name has long been embedded in Alaskan politics. When her father, Frank, left the Senate to become governor of the state, he appointed her to the open Senate seat. Now, she is running for re-election with opposition from the Palin-endorsed Joe Miller, while painting herself as the neighborhood girl from Ketchikan with ties to Juneau, Fairbanks, and Anchorage. Over the years, she said, she has gotten to know all the "people who are moving and shaking" in the state, "And I don't know Joe Miller, and I think that says something."