“Short of some absolutely astounding event, it’s over”

“Short of some absolutely astounding event, it’s over,” concludes Alaska-based Republican pollster Marc Hellenthal, who admitted he was surprised at the strong showing for the write-in category Tuesday.

“[Murkowski] spent a lot of time and a lot of money making sure her voters knew what to do and knew how to spell her name, and it looks like it paid off,” he said. “Our last poll before the election had her at 44 percent. I was surprised at how close to 44 percent that write-in total ended up.”…

Hellenthal said he would be “shocked” if a court ruled that Murkowski’s last name had to be spelled correctly to the letter for a write-in ballot to count. That places Miller in an even tougher position given that his lawyers will likely have to argue to invalidate votes that many might agree were intended for Murkowski.