Since Dan Sullivan won the GOP Senate primary race on Tuesday, it’s been unclear how much Joe Miller, who saw a late surge and came in second in the race, was going to be involved in Sullivan’s campaign. Sullivan and Miller had a “positive” meeting on Wednesday, Sullivan’s campaign spokesperson said. But that’s as far as he would go. Miller’s spokesperson didn’t immediately return a call.

Miller said during the last debate of the campaign that he would support the Republican nominee. But support comes in all degrees. Miller got 29,173 votes on Tuesday night. Those are numbers to pay attention to. Sen. Mark Begich beat then Sen. Ted Stevens by about 4,000 votes in 2008. Many of Miller’s tea party supporters will vote for Sullivan anyway in the general. But not all of them without Miller’s full-throttled endorsement.

A release that Miller sent today (in full below) appears to indicate that Miller at least will fight back against Begich when his name his used by Begich to attack Sullivan, as Begich did in his campaign’s first commercial of the general election. Miller is featured in the ad, questioning where Sullivan’s campaign contributions are coming from and “why (the money) is being given.” Miller said that the ad should be pulled because his words were taken out of context, and therefore the ad is misleading and “completely disingenuous.” (Watch the video of the debate here.)

Money quote from Miller:

Instead of spending his time misleading Alaskans, Mark Begich should be getting help for his spending addiction, or working to clean up the Obamacare mess he made by delivering the 60th and deciding vote for its passage. Alaskans might also appreciate it if he found the courage to stand up and oppose at least one of the President’s radical nominees. Then he might actually be a ‘thorn’ in Barack Obama’s backside.

Throughout the campaign, Miller didn’t appear to have as many harsh words for Sullivan as he had for Mead Treadwell, who spent a large part of his campaign courting Miller’s tea-party base. However, Sullivan is much more of an establishment candidate than is Miller, and some have wondered if Miller’s active support of Sullivan would help or hurt Miller, who likely has his eyes on a future campaign.

Here’s the release in full:

Today Joe Miller weighed in on Mark Begich’s latest attack on Dan Sullivan in which the junior senator uses a clip lifted from the KTVA Republican primary debate.

“Mark Begich’s ad is completely disingenuous,” said Miller. “My words were ripped out of context. This is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Washington politicians, willful distortion of the truth. To say nothing of the fact that Mark Begich is the poster-child for Barack Obama and Harry Reid’s dirty money. The ad needs to be pulled.”

The context of the Joe Miller quote was a general question posed by Alaska Dispatch reporter Nat Hertz during the KTVA/Alaska Dispatch debate regarding big outside money coming into Alaska in order to influence the outcome of the US Senate race.

“Joe was merely pointing out that Alaskans need to be discerning with respect to who is giving the money and what they hope to get in return for their investment,” said Miller Press Secretary Randy DeSoto. “Senator Begich is not only twisting Joe’s words, he’s being incredibly hypocritical, given he has taken millions from outside special interests.”

It should be clear to Alaskans that Mark Begich is playing the insider game. This is just more evidence that he’s been corrupted by Washington and needs to go.

Miller concluded, “Instead of spending his time misleading Alaskans, Mark Begich should be getting help for his spending addiction, or working to clean up the Obamacare mess he made by delivering the 60th and deciding vote for its passage. Alaskans might also appreciate it if he found the courage to stand up and oppose at least one of the President’s radical nominees. Then he might actually be a ‘thorn’ in Barack Obama’s backside.”

Joe Miller is a husband, father, grandfather, combat veteran, and advocate of Constitutional liberty who believes in individual rights, private property, free markets and the sanctity of human life.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com