After last night

Perhaps the most surprising result is the closeness of the result in the Alaska Republican Senate primary. Joe Miller holds a 3,000 vote lead over incumbent Lisa Murkowski. According to Politico, 16,000 7,600 absentee ballots have yet to be counted. Miller was substantially outspent by Murkowski; he had the endorsement of Sarah Palin and the support of Alaska tea party activists going for him. Exit questions on this race: Who is the Democratic senatorial nominee? Does it matter? Let’s hope not.
Republicans nominated Rick Scott over Bill McCollum as their gubernatorial candidate in Florida. Scott is a problematic candidate whose bottomless personal resources ultimately carried the day in the primary. The Miami Herald credits Scott with pulling off a “one-man political revolution” last night, given the weight of the forces of the Republican establishment that he overcame.
Now Scott faces off against Democratic nominee Alex Sink. Republican turnout in Florida dwarfed that on the Democratic side, which featured a competitive senatorial race between Kendrick Meek and billionaire Jeff Greene (won by Meek). The result of the Republican gubernatorial primary keeps hope alive for Florida Democrats. NRO’s Battle ’10 and Jim Geraghty have more.
In Florida’s Eighth Congressional District, Daniel Webster emerged the winner of the Republican primary for the right to challenge Democratic incumbent and all-around madman Alan Grayson. Webster was supported by Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee. Jim Geraghty, I think (I can’t find the link now) characterizes the general election contest as one between the devil and Daniel Webster. Support Webster here.
John McCain whipped J.D. Hayworth in the Arizona Republican primary. Who is McCain’s Democratic opponent in the general election? The Democratic primary featured a competitive four-way race, but let’s face it. It doesn’t matter who won. Come November Senator McCain will hold the seat and breathe a sigh of relief.
In Arizona’s Third Congressional District, Ben Quayle emerged victorious. With any luck, liberals will have this member of the younger Quayle generation to kick around for a good long time to come.
The elections on November 2 can’t come soon enough.
UPDATE: I have corrected the first paragraph, courtesy of a reader, to reflect that, while 16,000 absentee ballots were requested, approximately 7,600 were returned.
Jim Geraghty adds this regarding the Florida primary results: “Last night in Florida, the Democrats had a hotly-contested Senate race, while Rubio’s primary win was assured. Yet roughly 1,059,000 voted for Rubio in the GOP primary, while about 909,000 voted in the Democratic primary. Of those, 522,982 voted for Kendrick Meek.”
PAUL adds: Given Charlie Crist’s candidacy, and his quest for Democratic support, it might be better for Rubio if Florida Democrats were more fired up about Meek.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses