Tea Party Express readies another anti-Murkowski blitz

The Tea Party Express, which spent some $600,000 on TV and radio ads slamming Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) during Alaska's GOP Senate primary, is set to launch a new campaign Monday to aid Republican Joe Miller in the general election.

Murkowski is waging a write-in bid this fall against Miller, who defeated her in the primary, and Sitka Mayor Scott McAdams (D). 

The California-based group played a leading role in several GOP Senate primaries this year, spending hundreds of thousands in Nevada, Alaska and Delaware to buck up Tea Party-backed candidates. 

On Monday, the group will unveil a new TV ad targeting Murkowski, which spokesman Levi Russell said he hopes will be on the air in Alaska within the next two weeks. Russell said the spot will send a clear signal to Murkowski, "We voted you out once, and we'll do it again."

The Tea Party Express also has a planned rally and a two-hour radiothon Monday in Anchorage to raise money for their Alaska efforts this fall. 

The group called it just the start of an effort to "counteract Murkowski's write-in campaign, which demonstrates a blatant disrespect for the voters of Alaska."

After the Republican primary, Murkowski labeled the Tea Party Express an "outside extremist group" and she has continued that line of attack in her write-in campaign. 

Murkowski campaign spokesman Steve Wackowski said he fully expects "nasty, lower-48 political tactics" from the Tea Party Express ahead of November.

"If they really cared about Alaska, they would just stay in California and work to unseat Barbara Boxer," Wackowski said.