Lincoln Survives Arkansas Runoff; S.C. Candidates Head To Runoff

Jun 8, 2010 3 Comments ›› Pat Dollard

(CNN) — Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln advanced in her fight to hold onto her seat in the U.S. Senate.

The Arkansas senator defeated state Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in the state’s Democratic primary runoff.

The Arkansas contest was one of a number of high-profile primary battles taking place Tuesday.

The runoff was necessary because while Lincoln edged Halter by 2 percentage points in the May 18 primary, neither candidate cracked the 50 percent mark needed for a victory.

Halter enjoyed the endorsement and financial support of national labor unions, which targeted Lincoln for her opposition to the public option in the recent battle over health care (Lincoln voted for the final bill) and for her opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, which unions strongly support.

Lincoln fought back by portraying unions as Washington-based outsiders interfering in Arkansas politics.

“We’ve got a lot worth fighting for. A whole lot worth fighting for. We’re going to make sure, as we regroup tomorrow, we put this campaign on a trajectory towards November and a victory in November,” Lincoln said after the results came in.

Lincoln will face a tough general election fight against Rep. John Boozman, the GOP nominee.
Earlier Tuesday, South Carolina state lawmaker Nikki Haley and U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett advanced to a runoff in the state’s Republican gubernatorial contest.

The Associated Press projects the two will be the top vote-getters, with neither reaching the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff election.

The race captured national attention because of accusations of extramarital affairs.

The candidates hope to succeed scandal-plagued Gov. Mark Sanford, a fellow Republican. A year after Sanford made national news for disappearing and then admitting to an affair with a woman from Argentina, allegations of infidelity now surround Haley.

Haley has denied accusations of infidelity over the last two weeks, which she says rival campaigns are pushing.

S.C. Republican race makes Sanford legacy look tame

To compound matters, a state lawmaker backing one of her rivals used a ethnic slur in describing both President Obama and Haley, who is of Sikh heritage. After an uproar by both state Republicans and Democrats, state Sen. Jake Knotts apologized.

Haley fell just short of the 50 percent of the vote. Barrett finished in a distant second place.
The winner of the runoff will face state Sen. Vincent Sheheen in the general election. AP projected that he will win South Carolina’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.

In California, a large state with pricey television markets, campaigning can be expensive. But that doesn’t seem to be a problem for wealthy candidates Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner in the battle for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Whitman, the billionaire former eBay CEO who also was an adviser and surrogate for Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid, has spent around $70 million of her own money. Poizner, California’s insurance commissioner and a self-made multimillionaire, has injected some $25 million of his money into his campaign.

The most recent polls of likely GOP primary voters indicate that Whitman leads Poizner by around a 2-1 margin. The Republican winner in Tuesday’s primary likely will face off in the general election against state Attorney General Jerry Brown, a former two-term governor and the presumptive Democratic nominee.

The winner in November will succeed Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who can’t seek re-election because of term limits.

California Republicans batter each other in primaries

According to two surveys out this past week, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is the front-runner in the battle for the Republican Senate nomination. Both polls indicate Fiorina leads former Rep. Tom Campbell by double digits. State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, a conservative who is a favorite of Tea Party activists, is in third place.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin recorded a robocall that went out to voters in the last few days on behalf of Fiorina, a spokeswoman for Fiorina’s campaign said. In the call Palin said she wants to “….help get our country back on track” by supporting Fiorina.

Palin’s endorsement of Fiorina last month had irked some Tea Party activists in the state who backed DeVore. Fiorina has been attending some Tea Party meetings in the last few weeks trying to build up her support among that group.

The winner will face three-term Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in November. Polls suggest that Boxer faces a tough re-election battle.

The controversial new immigration law in neighboring Arizona has become a big issue in both the gubernatorial and Senate battles, as has the issue of offshore oil drilling due to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Arizona’s immigration measure also is grabbing attention in Nevada, where 13 candidates are on the ballot in the Republican U.S. Senate primary. Two new surveys indicate that Sharron Angle is the front-runner. The former Nevada Assembly member, who praises the Tea Party movement, has won endorsements in recent months from many conservative organizations, including significant financial backing from the Tea Party Express, a national Tea Party group best known for running cross-country bus caravans, and the Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative organization.

According to the polls, Las Vegas businessman and former University of Nevada-Las Vegas basketball player Danny Tarkanian (son of that school’s legendary basketball coach, Jerry Tarkanian) and businesswoman and former Nevada GOP Party Chairwoman Sue Lowden remain competitive.

Nevada Republicans in ‘slugfest’ for right to take on Reid

Lowden, once the leader in surveys, appears to have suffered from a much-publicized gaffe when she suggested at a town hall meeting in rural Nevada that people could barter for medical care, recalling that some even traded chickens for doctors’ services in the old days. The comments fueled sarcasm and criticism of Lowden and her campaign.

The remaining candidates bidding for the Republican Senate nomination are in single digits in most polling.

The winner of the Republican primary will take on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Polls suggest Reid faces a tough bid for a fifth term in the Senate.

Iowa, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota and Virginia also are holding primaries Tuesday. There’s also a runoff in Georgia to fill the seat of former Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republican who stepped down this year to run for governor. Both candidates in the runoff contest are Republicans.