ANOTHER INCUMBENT GONE – AT 8:17 A.M. ET:  Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has now conceded defeat in her primary contest against tea partier Joe Miller, who had the endorsement of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

She is one of a number of Republican incumbents to be defeated by more conservative candidates for the party's nomination.  From The New York Times: 

ANCHORAGE — Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska conceded late Tuesday in her Republican primary race against Joe Miller, a lawyer from Fairbanks who was backed by Tea Party activists, Sarah Palin and other conservatives.

Mr. Miller shocked the political establishment here and in Washington last week when he emerged with a narrow lead, 1,668 votes, after the primary vote, on Aug. 24. His victory makes him the presumed favorite to win the Senate seat from this heavily Republican state.

Mr. Miller, who has proposed drastic cuts in federal spending, had trailed badly in local polls in the weeks before the election but benefited from a last-minute flood of advertisements, mailings and automated calls casting Ms. Murkowski as a Democrat in disguise. An abortion-related ballot measure also brought conservatives to the polls.

COMMENT:  Is this good for the GOP?  Bad?  You have to go case by case.  But a word of caution:  The Republicans won a huge congressional victory in the midterms of 1994, but then overreached in their administration of the House.  Eventually, they lost the presidency in 1996 when Bill Clinton was strongly reelected. 

If the GOP, which is moving to the right as a party, gains control of one or both houses of Congress this year, it must govern intelligently, creatively, and show real benefits to the American people.  Otherwise, control may prove to be just as great a liability in 2012 as it did in 1996.  Winning in politics isn't everything.  It's only the beginning of something.

September 1, 2010