National Review Reports on Joe Miller

By Robert Costa (National Review):

Yardley, Pa.— A year ago, Joe Miller, a low-key attorney with a Chuck-Norris–style beard, was Alaska’s Republican Senate nominee, waging an uphill battle against incumbent GOP senator Lisa Murkowski, who ultimately won reelection via write-in votes. No longer in the national spotlight, Miller remains active in politics, speaking at tea-party rallies. I caught up with him in this small, suburban town, just north of Philadelphia, about an hour before he spoke at a tea-party event at a local farm, where he endorsed upstart Senate candidate Marc Scaringi, a former Rick Santorum aide, who is challenging Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.).

Over coffee, Miller told me that he is not ready to endorse a presidential candidate, but finds Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann near the top of his list. He also thinks that Sarah Palin, despite the buzz, will jump in. “My gut is that she’s going for it,” he says. “I know the polling data and facts on the ground may suggest otherwise, but she would be a wonderful addition to the fray. I think she would enliven the debate. She would embolden and motivate the tea-party base, bringing an outside-the-establishment perspective, which is really needed.”

Miller worries that Mitt Romney, whom he describes as a “well-organized moderate,” will potentially “split the tea-party vote” and cruise to the nomination early next year. “All in all, however, what I’m seeing from the field is encouraging,” he says. The tea-party movement, he predicts, is already playing a major role in shaping the race, keeping candidates on their toes and forcing constitutional issues to feature prominently at debates.

In coming months, expect Miller to pop up around the country. Through his political-action committee, Restoring Liberty, he will attempt to be the Last Frontier’s Jim DeMint, endorsing conservative challengers and criticizing GOP leaders, should they stray from tea-party principles.

“There are efforts to point to my race — Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell — and say that the Tea Party can’t be effective; that in reality, it can’t be translated into real political victory,” Miller says. “But in reality, what happened in 2010, I think, was a harbinger of what’s to come in 2012. People are waking up to what government is done, to how broken it is. That new knowledge, that education, is going to be instrumental in seeing more conservatives gain office next year.”

Read more at National Review HERE.