Murkowski receives warm welcome from fellow senators as lame-duck begins

Sen. Lisa Murkowski received a warm welcome from fellow Senators on the Senate floor Monday and congratulations from National Republican Senate Campaign Chairman John Cornyn. Ballots are still being counted in Murkowski's write-in battle against Republican nominee Joe Miller, but the senator's camp appears confident she will come out on top. Elections officials continued the write-in ballot count Monday and Murkowski is still winning close to 90 percent of those votes unchallenged. That puts her on a path to eclipse Miller's total by a few thousand votes once the counting concludes. Miller was backed by the Tea Party and defeated Murkowski in the August GOP primary. She ran as a write-in candidate in the general election. Cornyn and the NRSC backed Miller in the general election and have aided his ballot count efforts, but some Miller supporters, including Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) have questioned whether the national party is fully committed to Miller...more