More Election News

• CO: The New York Times' Bennet Bombshell
• GA: Huckabee Backs Nathan Deal
• TN: Fincher, Cohen Post Big Wins
• CO: Wiens Won't Shut Door on Running
• CT: The Benefits and Pitfalls of Self-Financed Campaigns
• VA-2: Can Dems Hold on to Narrow '08 Win?
• NC: Marshall May Not Want Obama to Campaign for Her
• TN: Haslam Wins GOP Nomination; Will Face McWherter
• OR-5: Pelosi's Fate Could Be Decided Here
• CO: Bennet, Romanoff Race to the Left
• MI: Bernero-Snyder Race Off to a Lively Start
• PA: A Key Stepping Stone for GOP Majority
• UT: Nukes a Hot Topic in Senate Race

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and businessman Rick Snyder won their respective primaries Tuesday and will face off in a high-profile governor's race in Michigan. The race topped a long line of competitive primaries yesterday in three states.

With 13% unemployment in the state and Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm on her way out, Snyder likely begins the general election race with the advantage.

Snyder, a former CEO of Gateway who spent some $6 million of his own money in the race, won the crowded GOP primary with 36% of the vote, followed by Rep. Pete Hoekstra with 27% and Attorney General Mike Cox with 23%. Trailing well behind were Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard with 12% and state Sen. Tom George with 2%.

Snyder's last TV ad of the primary was aimed at Democrats and independents in an effort to get nontraditional GOP primary voters to participate in the Republican race instead of the Democratic primary. Voters in Michigan can choose which primary to vote in.

The Detroit Free Press reports that "interviews with voters suggest some and perhaps many" Democrats and independents did in fact vote in the GOP primary.

Bernero, a former state senator, won by a surprisingly high 18-point margin over state House Speaker Andy Dillon in the two-person Democratic primary. Bernero had trailed in most polls until the final weeks when he received a boost from labor unions that supported his candidacy over the more moderate Dillon.

Democratic Governors Association executive director Nathan Daschle released a statement indicating the line of attack Democrats will take against Snyder. "Rick Snyder isn't a jobs creator, he is a jobs destroyer. Rather than help Michigan workers, Snyder led a company that shipped thousands of jobs overseas," said Daschle.

Elsewhere in Michigan, seven-term incumbent Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick lost the Democratic primary for her Detroit-based 13th district. Kilpatrick barely held on in the 2008 primary, winning by less than 2,000 votes as her son, then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, suffered from serious legal trouble, resigned and ended up in jail.

The winner Tuesday was state Sen. Hansen Clarke, who led Kilpatrick in polling leading up to the election and defeated her by a 47%-41% margin. One recent poll found nearly half of voters saying they would vote for someone other than Kilpatrick because of her family's scandalous issues. Kilpatrick becomes the sixth incumbent to lose a primary in 2010.

Former Rep. Tim Walberg won the 7th district GOP primary and will face the man who knocked him from office in 2008 -- Rep. Mark Schauer, who was unopposed in the primary. The open 1st district, left vacant by the retirement of Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, will feature a race between Democratic state Rep. Gary McDowell and either state Sen. Jason Allen or surgeon Dan Benishek, who were separated by 12 votes with all precincts reporting in the five-way GOP primary.

Another top-billing race Tuesday was the open Republican Senate primary in Kansas, where Reps. Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran battled for the conservative mantle in a competitive and bitter contest to replace outgoing Sen. Sam Brownback. Moran edged Tiahrt by a 49.6%-44.7% margin. Moran will take on university administrator Lisa Johnston in the general election, but unfortunately for Johnston the state hasn't sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1932.

Moran and Tiahrt's Senate bids left open their Republican-leaning congressional districts, and the winners of Tuesday's primaries will be the heavy favorites to win in November as well. In Moran's 1st district, state Sen. Tim Huelskamp beat out two other leading contenders for the nomination. Republican National Committeeman Mike Pompeo won 39% in the five-way primary in Tiahrt's 4th district.

Missouri's Senate primaries went as predicted, with Rep. Roy Blunt and Secretary of State Robin Carnahan easily claiming their parties' nominations. The battle between two of most politically prominent families in the state could tighten over the next three months, but Blunt has held small leads in every poll this year and is aided by a favorable landscape for Republicans.

Longtime Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton easily won his 4th district primary challenge and will face former state Rep. Vicky Hartzler in what's expected to be one of the most competitive re-election campaigns in Skelton's 34 years in office. The Republican primary for Blunt's GOP-leaning 7th district seat was won by Billy Long, an auctioneer who, with an endorsement from Mike Huckabee, defeated two state senators in a five-way primary.

The packed primary night is not the last election day of the week, as Tennessee holds its primaries on Thursday.