Democratic challenger Andy Schroeder is pulling his name from contention in the Alaska Legislature House District 36 race, less than a week after winning his Democratic primary election unopposed.

Challenger Joe Miller built a sizable vote advantage in the Valley and the Interior over incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski that she could not blunt by running stronger than Miller in Anchorage, a breakdown of the vote in last week's U.S. Senate Republican primary reveals.

WASHINGTON -- Joe Miller, the surprise leader in Alaska's unresolved Republican Senate primary, said Sunday that the growing national debt requires "belt tightening" that should include cutting back on federal dollars that his state receives.

SALINA, Kan.-- For Joe Miller, there is little to do but wait and hope the more than 20,000 potential absentee ballots secure his victory against Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaskan Republican Senate primary.

There were more allegations by the Joe Miller campaign of ballot-counting monkey business on Saturday as the absentees continue to pour into the Alaska Division of Elections. State elections officials now say there are 23,472 ballots to process, with more coming, and the first count set for Tuesday.

SWINGING IN THE WIND ... Is it unusually quiet out there, folks? That's the sound of the whole state holding its breath. Has anyone ever picked up 1,600 votes from the post-election day pile of challenged and absentees (except Mark Begich, of course)? Has anyone ever lost after ending up 1,600 votes ahead with all the regular votes counted (except Ted Stevens, of course)?

Alaska candidate for the U.S. Senate Joe Miller is scheduled to appear on CBS' "Face the Nation" program Sunday.

The state's Democratic nominee for governor said Friday he wants to give Alaskans a chance to invest in a proposed pipeline that could ship natural gas to the Lower 48.

Ten minutes of mayhem Thursday at the Alaska State Fair -- caught on video and posted on YouTube -- jump-started an Internet debate on free speech this week and landed a familiar roadside activist in jail.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, criticized for not hitting back harder at her primary opponent before Tuesday's election, lashed out on Friday at fellow Republican Joe Miller as "paranoid" for suggesting her campaign's lawyers wanted to skew the results of the election.

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. Most are expected to be Republican primary ballots that will decide the too-close-to-call race between U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Joe Miller.

The abortion issue may have cost embattled U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski an untold number of votes Tuesday to Republican primary challenger Joe Miller, say anti-abortion activists.

Joe Miller's lead over U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski slightly narrowed to 1,668 votes with all the election precincts counted Wednesday. A stunned Murkowski said she is not giving up hope until absentee ballots are counted starting next week.

Planned Parenthood has created a website to help Alaska teens navigate the requirements of a ballot measure approved Tuesday requiring parents to be notified before their teen receives an abortion. Much of the money spent trying to defeat the measure came from various Planned Parenthood chapters.

There may be anti-incumbent sentiment elsewhere in the country but little was evident in Alaska's U.S. House race.

Mead Treadwell won the Republicans race for Alaska lieutenant governor Tuesday and will run on the November ballot paired with Gov. Sean Parnell.

Alaskans on Tuesday approved a controversial voter initiative requiring parents to be notified before their teen age 17 and younger receives an abortion.

Gov. Sean Parnell, who inherited the job from Sarah Palin and was credited with restoring calm after her tumultuous tenure, won the GOP gubernatorial primary Tuesday. Parnell beat a field of challengers that included former legislator Ralph Samuels and Bill Walker, an Anchorage attorney who mounted an aggressive campaign funded with hundreds of thousands of his own dollars.

As Sen. Lisa Murkowski watched the shocking election returns come into her election headquarters on primary night, she became painfully aware of two powerful forces in American politics in 2010: anti-government rage and Sarah Palin.