To the New York Times

Dear Editor,

I was appalled to see Deborah Solomon say in her "questions" column with Lisa Murkowski that Murkowski threatened to split the Republican vote. This is utterly false. Before she declared as a write-in candidate, polls ran the race at about 50/50, Miler and McAdams. After she declared her candidacy, polls showed Murkowsi and McAdams at 20/20, with Miller holding steady. Murkowski is not splitting the Republican vote, she is splitting the educated vote. I know many, many lifelong Republicans in Alaska who could never bear to vote for a fool ideologue like Joe Miller.

Likewise, Sarah Palin only won the governorship because a moderate conservative third party candidate ran, splitting the educated vote in exactly the same way. Keep in mind that until Palin announced her VP candidacy, the Obama campaign considered Alaska a battleground state. Alaska is diverse in its people and viewpoints, and has a political math far different from that of the rest of the country. I'm tired of reporters coming up and writing stock profiles of Georgia and just changing the word "swamp" to "moose," and going on about how we all love God and guns, without knowing a damn thing about the place. We are a different kind of conservative, if we are conservative at all.

Sincerely,

Christopher Benz