"Who would have thought," says The Nation‘s John Nichols, "that a conservative Republican senator, who is basically in the pocket of the big energy companies, would turn out to be the biggest challenger to the Tea Party movement?" But that’s just what’s happening in 2010: Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski is mounting a serious write-in campaign to keep her Senate seat, and Nichols says that with her financing, name recognition and willingness to use social media to get out the vote, she actually has a chance.

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