In her short concession speech Tuesday night, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) didn't sound like someone ready to explore a third-party or independent Senate run this fall, but that won't stop some from trying to talk her into it.

Political consultant and former Alaska independent gubernatorial candidate Andrew Halcro told The Hill he thinks the state's Libertarian Party is willing to take a second look at giving Murkowski its ballot line this fall — if she were to ask. 

Halcro isn't officially affiliated with Murkowski's campaign, but he contacted the Libertarian Party last week to ask if they would consider Murkowski should she end up on the losing end of the ballot count. 

"I think they're willing to at least sit down and talk to her about the possibility," said Halcro. "Murkowski could put them on the map if she ran as a Libertarian." 

Over the weekend, the executive committee of Alaska's Libertarian Party met and unanimously decided Murkowski wouldn't have a shot at its ballot line. 

But Libertarian Party Chair Scott Kohlhaas said Tuesday, "as a sitting senator, we'd always be open to sitting down and talking to Lisa Murkowski." 

A source close to the party also suggested the possibility of Murkowski running as a libertarian isn't completely dead but that she would have to make that appeal.

The party already has a Senate candidate on the ballot — Dave Haase. He would have to agree to step aside for Murkowski.

Alaska pollster Ivan Moore is trumpeting another option for Murkowski — an independent write-in campaign. 

"I think a lot of the more moderate voters are a bit horrified by what we've done up here," Moore said.     

Ultimately it all depends on whether Murkowski is willing to make a move that would surely divide her party in-state and nationally, which she certainly did not sound prepared to do Tuesday.  

In her concession speech the senator said, "This was not a race about Lisa Murkowski. This was a race about Alaska."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which backed Murkowski in the primary, has already pledged its support to Joe Miller and thanked Murkowski for "avoiding a long and costly recount."

The incumbent failed to pick up enough absentee votes to catch challenger Joe Miller in Tuesday's count.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) cut into her vote deficit but didn't pick up as many votes as her campaign had hoped.

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AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka took aim at John Boehner ahead of the Ohio Republican's visit to Missouri this weekend. 

Trumka called the House minority leader "the tan wonder" and ridiculed Boehner's idea of "job creation" during a speech in St. Louis at the AFL-CIO state convention Tuesday.  

"His idea of job creation is to hire a second caddy," Trumka said.

Boehner will be in St. Louis on Saturday to raise money for lawyer Ed Martin (R), who is challenging Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.).

Trumka was there to talk up labor’s support for the Democratic ticket in Missouri. Boehner is also going to Jefferson City to raise money for Republican Vicky Hartzler, Rep. Ike Skelton's (D-Mo.) challenger.

In a last-minute fundraising appeal, Sen. Menendez says: "Nothing would give them more bragging rights than winning this seat."

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The possible 2012 White House contender signed an executive order restricting his state's involvement in the healthcare reform law.

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North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D) won't face a House ethics investigation, which could help his reelection prospects. 

The nine-term Democrat was potentially facing an investigation into his fundraising practices, but the Office of Congressional Ethics announced Monday it was dismissing the case.

Pomeroy faces Republican Rick Berg in November. The Ballot Box considers his race a toss-up. 

In North Dakota, Pomeroy told reporters he felt vindicated.

"There was nothing here, so it feels like they must have read the materials I sent them," he said. "They've taken action, and the matter is done."

He added, "There was never more here. I voted to represent North Dakota's interests against the big banks on Wall Street."

Pomeroy wouldn't go into details about what information he provided ethics investigators.

"I'm not going to get into what they asked for. We gave them all the information they needed," he told the Bismarck Tribune.

Spending on political and issue ads ahead of the 2010 midterm elections is already approaching $1 billion, and one analyst predicts it's on track to reach $3 billion by November.

Ad Age has an interview with CMAG's Evan Tracey, who tracks political ad spending. Tracey said $864 million has already been spent this cycle, some $50 million more than was spent at this point in the 2008 election cycle. 

"Historically, two-thirds of all election spending comes during the final 60 days, so we are on track to approach $3 billion in total spending on political and issue ads," Tracey told Ad Age. 

The spending binge is being aided by self-funded candidates like Meg Whitman (R) in California and Linda McMahon (R) in Connecticut, as well as the Supreme Court's recent decision in the Citizens United case, which lifted restrictions on corporate and union spending.

Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller expressed confidence Tuesday that the final vote tally in his primary against Sen. Lisa Murskowski (R-Alaska) will be "accurate."

The Sarah Palin-backed candidate spoke just as Alaska officials began counting the remaining 24,000 ballots in the tight contest. Miller last week voiced concern that the incumbent Murkowski would try "to skew the results."

"What we have responded to are improper actions that have occurred by the other campaign within certain vote-tallying areas," he said in an interview on Fox News. "The lieutenant governor has addressed that; he's responded to our concerns. He has certainly made several comments that verified some of the concerns we raised. But we are confident at the end of the day, we're gonna have an accurate vote tally and it's going to reflect the will of the Alaskan people."

The Alaska race is one of the most-watched primary contests in the country. Miller, a relatively unknown Iraq war veteran and lawyer who picked up Tea Party support, emerged with a lead over Murkowski after voters went to the polls last Tuesday.

After counting the first batch of leftover ballots this Tuesday, Murkowski was able to chip away at Miller's 1,668-vote lead, narrowing it to 1,325.

Amid reports last week that Murkowski had summoned a top lawyer from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) to help her campaign, Miller accused the group of "meddling" in the primary contest. 

He also invoked the 2008 Minnesota Senate race that involved an eight-month legal battle, saying he feared Murkowski would try to "pull an Al Franken."

Miller softened his stance Monday after the NRSC pledged to stay neutral as the final votes were counted, but still said there were efforts to "skew" the results. 

Murkowski called Miller's comments "blatantly false accusations" and added that "for someone who wants to be Alaska's Republican nominee for Senate, Mr. Miller is certainly afraid of Republicans."

Miller said that, as of now, his campaign does not have the evidence to challenge the final results of the vote tally.

"The only way that we'd ever challenge anything is if there was evidence of some sort of vote-tampering," he said. "Right now we don't have that. We certainly have evidence of improper actions within certain areas," he said, adding that efforts by his opponent's campaign are not "casting a pall" on the overall results.