Challenges by Tea Party favorites highlight early primary returns

(News Today) - Tea Party favorites jumped out to early leads over mainstream Republican candidates in two key races Tuesday, the final day of major primary balloting before the November congressional elections.

Other races taking place in seven states and the District of Columbia included embattled veteran Rep. Charles Rangel's attempt to overcome ethics allegations and win his Democratic primary in New York, and Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty's bid to hold off a major primary challenger.

In the highest-profile races, the results will provide further evidence of whether the Tea Party movement can continue to knock off moderate GOP contenders. The victors will run in November against Democrats considered vulnerable due to high unemployment and a general anti-incumbent mood across America.

In Delaware, Tea Party-backed Christine O'Donnell grabbed the lead over nine-time U.S. Rep. Mike Castle in the first returns in the GOP Senate primary. While the early figures were too small to determine a trend, they prompted enthusiastic cheers among O'Donnell supporters gathered in Dover to await the result.

Election officials said turnout was strong for a midterm primary in parts of the state, particularly the southern district targeted by O'Donnell.

The bitterly contested campaign saw O'Donnell receive the endorsement of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and more than $150,000 in late spending from the Tea Party Express.

In response, conservative stalwart Bill Kristol, who fears O'Donnell is incapable of winning the Senate seat in November, said: "I know Sarah Palin. I respect Sarah Palin. And with all due respect -- Christine O'Donnell is no Sarah Palin."

O'Donnell, running as a Washington outsider, insists the Republican establishment is trying to drive her out of the race and hand victory to Castle, whom she refers to as "the anointed one."

Democrats who had written off Vice President Joe Biden's old Senate seat as a loss now believe they could defeat O'Donnell.

In New Hampshire, conservative candidate Ovide Lamontagne grabbed a solid early lead in his bid to upset the candidate favored by establishment Republicans. The winner will run in November to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Judd Gregg.

Kelly Ayotte, the state's former attorney general, stepped down to run for the Senate nomination with encouragement from national Republicans.

Considered the favorite in the seven-candidate contest for months, Ayotte found herself facing a strong challenge from Lamontagne, a Manchester attorney and the 1996 Republican nominee for governor.

Local Tea Party groups, the conservative New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper and influential conservative Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina all have backed Lamontagne.

Unlike O'Donnell in Delaware, though, Lamontagne didn't get Palin's endorsement. Instead, Palin is backing Ayotte, calling her a "Granite Grizzly" and "the true conservative running for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire."

However, Palin's endorsement and Ayotte's support from many national Republicans may have backfired in fiercely independent New Hampshire. They have drawn repeated criticism from the Union Leader.

Victories by O'Donnell in Delaware and Lamontagne in New Hampshire would be considered major triumphs for the Tea Party movement over the national Republican Party, raising questions about GOP unity heading into November.

In New York, Rangel has received help from former President Bill Clinton in his quest to defeat five challengers in the Democratic primary for the seat he has held for 40 years.

Despite allegations by the House ethics committee that Rangel committed financial wrongdoing and harmed the credibility of Congress, he raised more money than his opponents and remains popular in his Harlem district.

The situation is reversed in Washington, where Fenty swept into office in 2006 promising to fix the District of Columbia's struggling schools. Now, Fenty is in the fight of his career in part because of how he's tried to reform those schools.

City Council Chairman Vincent Gray is Fenty's main challenger in the Democratic mayoral primary, and polls show him running strong.

"We've got an uphill battle because we made tough decisions," Fenty said. "We'll continue to make those tough decisions because they're right for the people. But we're not naive. We know this has cost us a little political popularity that we came into the polls with."

The race is being closely watched far beyond the District of Columbia because the outcome could carry significant implications for the national debate over education reform.

Fenty brought in Michelle Rhee as chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, and she has since become famous for changes that that have become a model of education reform advocated by the Obama administration.

Rhee shut down two dozen schools, fired hundred of educators -- including more than 100 teachers this summer -- for poor performance, and overhauled the teacher evaluation system to include, for the first time, student performance as a measure of success. Local and national teachers unions have fought her efforts.

In addition, polls indicate there is a racial divide over Fenty's leadership. According to a recent Clarus poll, Fenty's challenger, Gray, is favored by 62 percent of African-American voters vs. Fenty's 17 percent. Fenty holds a 68-22 percent advantage among white voters. Both Fenty and Gray are African-American.

The winner of the Democratic primary will very likely win in November, as no one has filed to run as a Republican candidate.

In another New York race, two well-known Republicans are vying for the primary nod to take on state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo -- the son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo -- in November's gubernatorial election.

Former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio, who lost to Hillary Clinton in the 2000 Senate election, is being challenged by Carl Paladino for the GOP candidacy.

The post has proven hazardous in recent years. Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution scandal, and his successor, David Paterson, decided against running for another term due to allegations of wrongdoing involving World Series tickets and a domestic abuse case involving an aide.

Source : CNN

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