The Alaska Division of Elections said Thursday that it has more than 20,000 absentee and questioned ballots left to process from Tuesday's primary election.  Joe Miller, the Republican candidate who is poised to knock off Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) in a primary contest, said Thursday he is concerned she will launch a protracted legal battle to save her seat. The number of remaining ballots changes daily as more absentees come in and there's no way to know how many will be disqualified. The primary campaign was contentious and drew national attention in its final days due to Palin's involvement. The Washington Post cited unnamed sources in reporting Thursday that the National Republican Senatorial Committee will be sending lawyer Sean Cairncross to assist Murkowski's campaign during the ballot count. "We’ve got, I think, some game play going on here with the national Republican Senatorial Committee meddling in our primary election.” 
 
 
 
 Democrats have pounced on the election results, painting them as an example of GOP infighting that could do in the party in the November midterms.
– Still no winner in the Alaska Senate race, but Joe Miller retains his slim lead and incumbent Lisa Murkowski continues to deflect (but not deny) speculation that she's considering a third-party run. Also, still no love lost between candidates, notes the Hill: Upon hearing that the GOP Senate campaign committee is sending a lawyer to help Murkowski, Miller declared, "It concerns us any time somebody lawyers up and tries to pull an Al Franken, if you will. We are very concerned that there may be some attempt here to skew the results." With about 20,000 absentee or questioned ballots still to be counted, Miller leads by 1,668 votes, reports the Anchorage Daily News. He's confident of victory, as rumors fly in the state that Murkowski could run against him in the fall on the Libertarian ticket. The party's current candidate says he'd be willing to step aside for her.