Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was battling for her political life against Republican challenger Joe Miller on Tuesday night. Miller was barely leading Murkowski with just under half of Alaska's election precincts reporting around 10:45 p.m.

Miller had 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Murkowski.

Miler said Tuesday night that Sarah Palin's support was pivotal to his showing, and that Republican primary voters responded to his message.

"I think that they see the entitlement state, the federal government, growing too large. They understand because they have to balance their checkbooks," Miller said.

The winner will face Democrat Scott McAdams in the November general election. McAdams, the mayor of Sitka, had a big lead in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday night against Frank Vondersaar and Jacob Seth Kern.

Former Gov. Palin and the Tea Party Express made a big push to convince Alaskans to dump Murkowski for Miller. Polls had shown Murkowski with a big lead just weeks ago but Miller supporters had thought it was narrowing and were expressing confidence earlier in the day Tuesday that they would be pulling off an upset.

This was the first test of Palin's influence on Alaska politics since she resigned as governor last summer, and the first sign of how influential the Tea Party movement can be in shaping political races in this state. The race was being closely watched nationally as a sign of Palin and the Tea Party's strength, but also because Murkowski is one of the leading Republicans in the Senate.

There was a lot more going on in this race than the Tea Party and Palin, though. Anti-Palin Alaska Republicans were arguing that voters should hold their nose and vote for Miller in spite of the endorsement of the former governor. Elements of Alaska's right wing have always disliked Murkowski.

Murkowski's pro-choice stance is a particularly sore point, one that Miller supporters hammered her on.

The primary election also included Ballot Measure 2, which would require parents to be notified before their teens age 17 and younger received an abortion. Miller said he thinks that brought out voters who supported him over Murkowski.

"The Prop. 2 supporters were our supporters, largely. ... Frankly I think the pro-life vote was important," Miller said on Tuesday night.

Murkowski was a moderate state legislator when she was appointed by her father, Frank Murkowski, in 2002 to the U.S. Senate seat he was giving up to become governor. The theme of a royal dynasty was also a part of the Miller campaign against her.

Murkowski told voters her seniority and position in the Senate is good for Alaska. She's a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee and the most senior Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Murkowski described Ted Stevens as her Senate mentor. She was much a part of the huge outpouring of reverence for Stevens in Alaska after he died in a plane crash earlier this month.

The Murkowski campaign had prepared television, radio and prints ads featuring Stevens just days before he died. But Murkowski jettisoned the ads after his death and they never appeared.

Alaskans adored Stevens for his talent in delivering Congressional dollars to Alaska. Federal dollars play a huge role in driving the economy, especially in rural areas that have few jobs.

Miller was running on a platform that's never before been a winning strategy for an Alaskan running for Congress. He promised to help choke federal spending rather than deliver the dollars back home.

The California-based Tea Party Express reported spending $600,000 on behalf of Miller with ads that labeled Murkowski a liberal who is prone to voting with the Democrats. Voters were getting robocalls until the last minute from Palin, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, and former Alaska Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, saying the country is in crisis and Miller is the man to straighten it out. Those calls were financed by Miller, who raised $180,000 for his campaign.

Miller leaned heavily on his resume: a West Point and Yale law school graduate who won a Bronze star in the first Gulf War and was a magistrate. He's currently an attorney in Fairbanks and had almost no statewide name recognition until Palin, whose husband is a friend of Miller's, got on board his candidacy and attracted the attention of the national Tea Party Express.

Murkowski also spent heavily, sinking more than $1 million into the race. She ran ads touting her conservative bona fides and bashing the Obama administration. Murkowski called Miller a liar, saying his insistence that she didn't want to repeal the federal health care reform act ignored the fact she's participated in Congressional efforts to do so.

The Tea Party Express less than a month ago commissioned a poll by Dittman Research of Anchorage that found Murkowski with 61 percent of the vote, compared to 24 percent for Miller. The Tea Party group put out a new poll less than a week ago suggesting the race had tightened, but that Murkowski still led by 11 percentage points.

Dittman said Tuesday night that he was surprised that Miller was leading. He said he thought it would be close but that Murkowski had the edge.

He said he thought the final advertising blitz by the Tea Party Express made the difference. He said the California based Tea Party group, which has had success in Lower 48 Republican primary races, made a huge difference in the Alaska race.

"Without the Tea Party we wouldn't even be talking about him," Dittman said.