Primary Night Results Thread (AL, CA, IA, MT, NJ, NM, SD)

[Conan]

You're probably right about loebsack, just trying to find at least a little good news for the gop tonite.

Leonard Lance over Kate Christie?

I guess this is good news.  I mean both candidates have advantages over each other.  Lance seems like a genuinely nice guy and very kind and courteous plus he has the experience (15 years in the state Senate).  However, Whitman seemed to have the enthusiasm and drive to beat Stender, and being a young and personable candidate helped too.  All in all, both would have been good candidates IMO, and I'm glad Lance got the nod (as opposed to Kelly Hatfield or Martin Marks).

Indeed, if you care about holding on to NJ-07, last night was doubly good news as Dick Zimmer won the GOP nod for U.S. Senate.  While he's likely to get overwhelmed by Lautenberg in the general, it's worth noting that he absolutely crushed Pennachio in his old CD (which is, basically, a modified version of NJ-07): he won Hunterdon by 60–30, especially impressive because Pennachio had the "line" there.  Zimmer also scored an off-the-line victory in Somerset, besting Pennachio 46–43.

Having a U.S. Senate candidate on top of the ticket who is destined to win NJ-07 bodes very well for Lance.

Do you know if Kean won the district against Menendez?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

You're probably right about loebsack, just trying to find at least a little good news for the gop tonite.

Leonard Lance over Kate Christie?

I guess this is good news.  I mean both candidates have advantages over each other.  Lance seems like a genuinely nice guy and very kind and courteous plus he has the experience (15 years in the state Senate).  However, Whitman seemed to have the enthusiasm and drive to beat Stender, and being a young and personable candidate helped too.  All in all, both would have been good candidates IMO, and I'm glad Lance got the nod (as opposed to Kelly Hatfield or Martin Marks).

Indeed, if you care about holding on to NJ-07, last night was doubly good news as Dick Zimmer won the GOP nod for U.S. Senate.  While he's likely to get overwhelmed by Lautenberg in the general, it's worth noting that he absolutely crushed Pennachio in his old CD (which is, basically, a modified version of NJ-07): he won Hunterdon by 60–30, especially impressive because Pennachio had the "line" there.  Zimmer also scored an off-the-line victory in Somerset, besting Pennachio 46–43.

Having a U.S. Senate candidate on top of the ticket who is destined to win NJ-07 bodes very well for Lance.

Do you know if Kean won the district against Menendez?

I think I looked this up before for you, and I think the result was that Kean narrowly carried it against Menendez.

[Verily]

Sabrin did pass 20% in another county: Gloucester, where he got 27% and surpassed Zimmer (on 26%).

[Keystone Phil]

Though this summer I may campaign for both Zimmer and McCain.  And no, I'm still not voting for McCain.

Campaign for him but not vote for him...?

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Oh, good. Now we have absolutely nothing to use against him. Zimmer - 43% again.

[King]

All this clerk reporting error and precinct totals not matching up makes me hope McCain-Obama goes down to a 265-268 with New Mexico as the only state left in a virtual deadlock of 100 or so votes.  "Now, that's change we can believe in!"

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Though this summer I may campaign for both Zimmer and McCain.  And no, I'm still not voting for McCain.

Campaign for him but not vote for him...?

Given my past experience, it'd be all but impossible to separate the two.  Or even the three: Lance/Zimmer/McCain.  It's all calling and IDing likely GOP voters anyways.  You're almost wasting your time if you're not working all three at once.

[Keystone Phil]

Though this summer I may campaign for both Zimmer and McCain.  And no, I'm still not voting for McCain.

Campaign for him but not vote for him...?

Given my past experience, it'd be all but impossible to separate the two.  Or even the three: Lance/Zimmer/McCain.  It's all calling and IDing likely GOP voters anyways.  You're almost wasting your time if you're not working all three at once.

The way he worded it, though, made it seem like he was going to work on them seperately but I know what you mean.

[HardRCafé]

As for Murkowski, she may have won but she was given a much harder time than Mike Miller would have received.

She's also a mediocre Senator.

[Keystone Phil]

As for Murkowski, she may have won but she was given a much harder time than Mike Miller would have received.

She's also a mediocre Senator.

Agreed.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

If you believe that an Abramoff-connected moderate will do better than a straight-forward, non-scandalized conservative in building a coalition, not to mention simply winning elections in Republican seats, you have quite a bit to learn.

If you consider Ose to have been an "Abramoff-conneected moderate", he'd be just about the only one. Abramoff was a well-known conservative activist.  Even going back to his term as CRNC Chairman, Abramoff "changed the direction of the committee and made it more activist and conservative than ever before." One campaign donation alone does not equal a connection.

Do you have something against McClintock,

Yes. He tried to make Cruz Bustamante your Governor.  Fortunately, like most of his electoral endeavors, he failed at that mission.

or do you just not know California politics?

I know that California Republican primary voters have a suicidal streak of promoting candidates that are too far to the right to win statewide.  Thank God that Schwarzenegger was able to get elected in the recall without a partisan primary - otherwise you might not have any statewide elected Republicans.

McClintock is a Republican icon in California. 

You should get a new icon.  I'd recommend one that can win a statewide election.

He's by far the 2nd most electable Republican statewide.

Wouldn't someone need to be elected statewide (like Steve Poizner, another moderate) in order to claim your honor?

The 4th CD is a safe Republican district either way.  So what's the deal?

The words "safe Republican district" almost can't be said this year, but I see your point.  If one of these Club for Growth types is going to be elected, this is the kind of district to do the dirty deed in.

[cannonia]

If you believe that an Abramoff-connected moderate will do better than a straight-forward, non-scandalized conservative in building a coalition, not to mention simply winning elections in Republican seats, you have quite a bit to learn.

If you consider Ose to have been an "Abramoff-conneected moderate", he'd be just about the only one. Abramoff was a well-known conservative activist.  Even going back to his term as CRNC Chairman, Abramoff "changed the direction of the committee and made it more activist and conservative than ever before." One campaign donation alone does not equal a connection.

Meh.  If Ose had won the primary, he'd be tarred as a right-wing radical, and the name Abramoff would be all over the airwaves.  No difference.

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[/quote]

Complete nonsense.  There was no party primary in the recall election, there were many candidates who were high-profile enough to get into the debates, and McClintock ran in that race on his state budget experience.  He is probably the most knowledgeable legislator in the State on that topic.  And in any case it's irrelevant, since Schwarzenegger is now losing popularity for failing to live up to his campaign promises - He won't stand up to the Legislature and make them curb their spending.  He also has zero influence in helping other Republicans get elected.

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I know that California Republican primary voters have a suicidal streak of promoting candidates that are too far to the right to win statewide.  Thank God that Schwarzenegger was able to get elected in the recall without a partisan primary - otherwise you might not have any statewide elected Republicans.
[/quote]

You can argue that Riordan should have been nominated, but in the stretch between Pete Wilson and Gray Davis, it was mainly the case that moderate and conservative Republicans all lost.  It's true for Matt Fong and Bruce McPherson as well as Bill Simon and Dick Mountjoy.  Tom McClintock got within 0.4% of winning in 2002, which was the beginning of the Republican shutout.

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You should get a new icon.  I'd recommend one that can win a statewide election.

He's by far the 2nd most electable Republican statewide.

Wouldn't someone need to be elected statewide (like Steve Poizner, another moderate) in order to claim your honor?
[/quote]

Poizner got lucky: He was running against the scandal-plagued, discredited Cruz Bustamante.  And for some reason, Republicans have better luck running for Insurance Commissioner than other offices.

McClintock ran against the popular and well-known John Garamendi.  He didn't get the campaign help that Schwarzenegger promised, and the state GOP is incompetent and ineffectual.  I think he does pretty well campaigning on a shoestring.

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The words "safe Republican district" almost can't be said this year, but I see your point.  If one of these Club for Growth types is going to be elected, this is the kind of district to do the dirty deed in.

[/quote]

Are you really suggesting that the Republican Party should kick out the conservatives?  Or should it just reject all conservative candidates while expecting conservatives to keep voting?

Or are you just being charitable and granting that a few conservative Republicans can be allowed to represent conservative districts?

[HardRCafé]

Pearce appears to have won by 3114 (SOS).