Todd Palin helps Murkowski challenger

"Joe Miller isn’t afraid to shake things up in order to get the job done, and that’s exactly what we need in Washington today,” Todd Palin says on Miller’s website.

Miller, an attorney from Fairbanks, is taking on Murkowski, a moderate and member of the GOP leadership who was first appointed to the Senate by her father before winning re-election in 2004. Miller says she’s not conservative enough.

There’s little love between the Palin and Murkowski families.

Sarah Palin, her party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee, defeated Murkowski’s father in a rough gubernatorial primary in 2006. Palin abruptly resigned her office last year, leading to criticism from Murkowski.

"I am deeply disappointed that the governor has decided to abandon the state and her constituents before her term has concluded,” Murkowski said.

In another contretemps with Palin, Murkowski challenged the former governor’s unsubstantiated claim that President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul included "death panels.”

Murkowski said portions of the Democrats’ health care bills were "bad enough that we don’t need to be making things up.”

"Quite honestly, I’m so offended at that terminology because it absolutely isn’t (in the bill). There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill,” the senator said.

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The chairman of Arkansas’ Republican Party said Thursday he’s not endorsing anyone in the GOP Senate race despite predicting a win for Rep. John Boozman.

Eight Republicans are seeking the GOP nod; Boozman is leading in the polls although the sniping is fierce ahead of Tuesday’s primary.

"What I stated was of the independent polling I’ve seen in Arkansas, Congressman Boozman could be the likely winner in our primary,” said Doyle Webb, who attempted to clarify his prediction reported a day earlier by political blog Talking Points Memo.

If none of the candidates wins a majority of the votes, the race will head to a June 8 runoff. Boozman is the front-runner in most polls, with state Sen. Gilbert Baker and former state Sen. Jim Holt likely fighting for a potential second spot in the runoff.

"We don’t need party chairmen and Washington insiders stepping on the voice of the people,” said Baker, who is a former chairman of the state GOP.

Webb said he’s not playing favorites.

"I think every Arkansan has an opinion in this race. I personally have not even decided who I’m going to vote for,” Webb said.

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California gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner is rekindling the controversy over Republican rival Meg Whitman’s spotty voting record, claiming in a new television ad that she did not vote a single time in 28 years — a charge Whitman denies.

The commercial, which begins Thursday throughout most of California, says Whitman missed more than 100 opportunities to vote against the kinds of higher taxes and fees she says she opposes. It claims the former eBay chief executive did not vote from 1972 to 2000, although Whitman has said she remembers voting in the 1984 and 1988 presidential elections.

Whitman, 53, has acknowledged that her spotty voting record is a black mark. The issue is almost certain to dog her in the general election if she survives the June 8 primary against Poizner, the state insurance commissioner.

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Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., and Juliet Williams in Sacramento, Calif., contributed to this report.