Thread: Primary day: Five things you need to know in CT., FL., MN. and WI.

Primary day: Five things you need to know in Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota and Wisconsin

Posted by Aaron Blake at 03:02 PM ET, 08/14/2012 TheWashingtonPost

Voters head to the polls in four states today, with Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota and Wisconsin holding congressional primaries.

Connecticut House Speaker and Democratic congressional candidate Chris Donovan is favored to win his primary today despite the arrests of two top aides. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)As usual, The Fix has zeroed in on five things to watch as the results roll in tonight:

1. The most expensive congressional primary in the country

That would be Connecticut’s 5th district, where seven candidates have raised at least $600,000 and five have raised more than $1 million. A total of nearly $10 million has already been raised just to decide each party’s nominee.

The most interesting subplot is on the Democratic side, where state House Speaker Chris Donovan remains the favorite despite the fact that his campaign manager and top fundraiser have both been arrested and charged with corruption. Organized labor and progressive groups remain firmly behind Donovan, who has not been implicated in the wrongdoing and has won the state party’s endorsement as well.

His chief opponent seemed to be former state representative Elizabeth Esty, but a third candidate, 30-year-old Dan Roberti, has benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars in super PAC ads and got the endorsement Monday of Bill Clinton, who has ties to Roberti’s father, influential Washington lobbyist and fundraiser Vincent Roberti.

On the GOP side, four candidates are well-funded, but party-backed state Sen. Andrew Roraback and businesswoman Lisa Wilson-Foley appear to be the frontrunners.

This is a Democratic-leaning seat, but it was held for two decades by GOP congresswoman Nancy Johnson. And if Donovan emerges and continues to suffer beneath his aides’ scandal, maybe that opens the door to Republicans in the state’s most GOP-friendly district.

2. Watch the margins in Senate races

There are four states holding Senate primaries today, but with the exception of the Wisconsin GOP Senate primary, we pretty much know who’s going to win. (For more on Wisconsin, the day’s marquee race, see Sean Sullivan’s piece from this morning.)

In Minnesota, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) will face state Rep. Kurt Bills; in Connecticut, Rep. Chris Murphy (D) and former WWE CEO Linda McMahon (R) are heavy favorites in contested primaries; and in Florida, Rep. Connie Mack (R) is expected to easily dispatch a primary field that includes former congressman Dave Weldon for the right to face Sen. Bill Nelson (D).

The latter two states are the only ones that are considered potentially competitive in the general election, though in Connecticut, that may be a stretch.

But keep an eye on how big both McMahon and Mack win for an idea about how strong they are headed into the fall. And the same goes for Murphy, who faces a statewide official in former Connecticut secretary of state Susan Bysiewicz. All three should win big, but if they can get 60 percent of two-thirds of the vote, that really says something.

Mack’s race is the closest to becoming competitive in the general election, with Republicans feeling better and better about giving Nelson a run for his money.

3. The old leave-Congress-for-three-decades-and-then-make-a-comeback story

Former congressman Rick Nolan (D) is attempting a political comeback more than three decades after retiring from Congress. And today, he faces former state senator Tarryl Clark for the right to challenge freshman Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) in a Democratic-leaning district.

Nolan won the state party’s endorsement and has even got its financial backing, but Clark has raised far more money and secured Clinton’s endorsement. Nolan remains the favorite, though, in a state where the state party’s backing matters – a lot.

The winner will be running in one of Democrats’ top-targeted districts in northern Minnesota (one of the few places in this country that can rightly be labeled “God’s country”).

4. Mica vs. Adams

At least one incumbent will lose reelection today, with Reps. John Mica and Sandy Adams facing off in Florida’s new 7th district.

Mica appears to be the favorite heading into election night. Adams got the backing of some tea party groups and Sarah Palin, but never became a cause celebre and has suffered financially because of it. She got basically no outside groups to spend money on her, and Mica has raised and spent twice as much as she has.

(For more on this race, see Alex Isenstadt’s piece in Politico.)
Elsewhere in Florida, Reps. Cliff Stearns (R) and Frederica Wilson (D) both face primary challengers of some substance, but Stearns’s primary is crowded (which is good for him) so he should be fine, and Wilson has landed the endorsement of President Obama in her racially tinged matchup with Haitian-American candidate Rudy Moise.

Wilson is African-American but represents the most heavily Haitian-American district in the country. She beat Moise 35 percent to 16 percent in a crowded field in 2010, but this year, it’s one on one.

5. Elsewhere in Florida…

A couple second-tier races for either side could feature some upsets.

In freshman Rep. Steve Southerland’s (R-Fla.) district, former state senator Al Lawson (D) is expected to defeat state Rep. Leonard Bembry, a Blue Dog whom Democrats initially had some hopes for.

And in the newly created 9th district, repeat candidate Todd Long appears likely to defeat Osceola County Commission Chairman John Quinones in the GOP primary for the right to face former congressman Alan (“Die Quickly”) Grayson (D).

Grayson and Southerland will both be favored to return to Congress regardless, but that may be even more the case now.

Primary day: Five things you need to know in Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota and Wisconsin - The Washington Post

(Updated) McMahon, Murphy Take Southington Primary, State in Landslide
The two party-endorsed candidates each won the town's vote of confidence by a steady margin despite low turnout at the polls Tuesday.

• ByJason Vallee

• 9:25 pm

(Updated 10:12 p.m. with statewide results added.)
Officials in Southington didn't anticipate much of a race Tuesday. In the end, it turns out they were right as Republican Linda McMahon and Democrat Chris Murphy each won the nomination for U.S. Senate from local voters by a decisive margin.

Murphy took home the local Democratic nomination, defeating challenger Susan Bysiewicz by a 968 - 492 margin, while McMahon solidifed her chances to represent the Republican party on the November ballot by defeating challenger Christopher Shays 1,398 - 275.

"They both had local connections and this result isn't exactly a surprise," said Democrat Dolores Longo, former chair of the Southington Democratic Town Committee. "Murphy in particular is well known in the community, so while Susan Bysiewicz is a kind woman with a lot to offer, the timing just wasn't right for her in this race."

---

Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone every day with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.

---

Murphy, a Cheshire resident, began his political career while living in town. He was elected to the Planning and Zoning Commission, an opportunity given to him when Longo was head of the party, and he hasn't looked back since.

Meanwhile, McMahon had also made a splash in town over the past couple years en route to gaining a steady following of supporters.

She chose Jeffrey Gagnon's business, Coil Pro, as the location to announce her intentions to run for U.S. Senate in September 2011. In June, she returned to give a 45 minute speech and gained the support of many local residents and business owners during a Southington Chamber of Commerce celebrity breakfast.

Kate Duffy, a spokesman for the McMahon campagin, said that she chose Southington and specifically Coil Pro because it left an impression on her during a visit in her run for office two years ago.

“Coil Pro is the definition of an American success story. This company has grown through hard work, smart business practices and an ability to adjust to a changing climate. It’s an example of what (McMahon) hopes to do on a government level,” Duffy said.

By The Numbers

The Southington Town Clerk reported the following results, by district, in the Democratic Primary:

	Dis. 1	Dis. 2	Dis. 3	Dis. 4	Dis. 5	Dis. 6	Dis. 7	Dis. 8	Dis. 9	Dis. 10	Dis. 11	Absentee
Chris Murphy	105	87	118	70	85	124	66	57	55	42	95	64
Susan Bysiewicz	65	50	57	35	40	55	36	38	26	29	34	27

*Bold-Italic denotes winner.The Southington Town Clerk reported the following results, by district, in the Republican Primary:

	Dis. 1	Dis. 2	Dis. 3	Dis. 4	Dis. 5	Dis. 6	Dis. 7	Dis. 8	Dis. 9	Dis. 10	Dis. 11	Absentee
Linda McMahon	180	134	144	91	180	143	102	118	65	82	104	55
Chris Shays	31	34	33	15	25	30	20	15	9	21	29	13

*Bold-Italic denotes winner.

The preceding information indicates the preliminary results. The Southington Town Clerk's office will provide final numbers to the Secretary of State on Wednesday morning.

Voter Turnout

The Registrar of Voters reported a 22-percent turnout during the Aug. 14 primary, nearly a third below the anticipated state turnout.

A total of 3,140 out of 14,215 voters took to the poll or cast their absentee ballots between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. This included an 18-percent turnout among Democratic voters and a 27.5-percent turnout for Republican voters.

Ed Malczyk, Southington Democratic Registrar of Voters, said the turnout was "about what we anticipated" for the local primary, especially given the seemingly decided fate of the U.S. Senate race and lack of a primary in the First Congressional District in 2012.

Staff with the Connecticut Secretary of State's office said entering Tuesday that they anticipated about a 30 percent turnout at the polls.

Statewide Results

As expected, Republican Linda McMahon and Democrat Chris Murphy will face off in November for the right to succeed Joe Lieberman in the U.S. Senate.

With 77% of the precincts reporting at 10 p.m., McMahon was soundly defeating former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays with 76% of the vote. Meanwhile, Murphy cruised by Bysiewicz, the Middletown native and former Secretary of the State, by a comfortable 66% to 34% margin.

In the Fifth Congressional District, Elizabeth Esty emerged on the Democratic side with a convincing 43% to 34% margin (as of 10 p.m.) over the embattled Chris Donovan, once considered the strong frontrunner before a campaign-finance scandal involving several members of his staff, and dark-horse Dan Roberti (23%).

Republicans in the Fifth District went down to the wire, with favorite Andrew Roraback pulling it out with 34% of the vote, followed by Mark Greenberg (28%), Lisa Wilson-Foley (19%) and Justin Bernier (19%) as of 10 p.m.

In the Second Congressional District, East Lyme restaurateur Paul Formica was running away with the Republican primary over Madison’s Daria Novak by about a 2-to-1 ratio, as of 9 p.m. and was declared the winner.

(Updated) McMahon, Murphy Take Southington Primary, State in Landslide - Southington, CT Patch

Mica beats Adams in bitter member vs. member Florida primary

Published: 8:34 PM 08/14/2012
Alexis Levinson is a reporter for The Daily Caller.

House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica successfully survived a primary challenge from freshman Rep. Sandy Adams, avoiding the anti-establishment sentiment that sealed the fate of several of his colleagues earlier in this primary season.

Mica led Adams 60 percent to 40 percent with 80 percent of precincts reporting when The Associated Press called the race at 8:25 p.m. Tuesday.

The two Florida Republicans were drawn into the same district by redistricting, and, though Florida law permits members of congress to run in districts they do not live in, both opted to remain in the 7th District. The incumbent-versus-incumbent primary turned into one of the nastiest primaries of the cycle, with both sides accusing the other of lying and committing all sorts of unethical behavior.

The two fellow members of Congress were no longer even speaking by the end of the race, after Mica allegedly threatened Adams, pulling her close when she went to shake his hand after an event and telling her she would regret running against him because: “I’ll destroy you.”

The tensions of the race were evident in Mica’s statement upon winning the primary.

“This race has been called the fight for the soul of the Republican party,” he said. “I’m happy to report the heart and soul of the party endures. This race demonstrated that the voters appreciate effective, experienced and proven conservative leadership.”

Adams, conceding the race, let go of enough of the hostilities to wish Mica the best, though her statement took a subtle jab at the dirty tactics of which her campaign accused Mica of employing.

“This has been a hard fought race,” Adams said in a statement. “We fought for the right principles. We fought with honesty, integrity and honor … I congratulate Mr. Mica on his win, and I wish him luck in November.”

Mica cast the race as a fight between a longtime public servant with a proven conservative record and a freshman member whose record as a state representative before she was elected to congress did not match her tea party rhetoric.

Adams, on the other hand, boasted a bevy of tea party endorsements — including Sarah Palin, Rep. Allen West, and Tea Party Express — and attempted to paint the campaign in the mold of earlier primaries this year, when tea party favorites like Richard Mourdock ousted longtime Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, and Ted Cruz upset Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in Texas.

But the freshman congresswoman never achieved the national star status of Cruz or Mourdock, both of whom were buoyed by money from outside groups, as her fundraising evidenced. Mica easily outraised her, bringing in $1.62 million to her $941,902, as of July 25.

Mica’s most prominent endorsements came from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.



Mica beats Adams in bitter member vs. member Florida primary | The Daily Caller

Klobuchar wins DFL Senate primary; MN turnout lags

Aug. 14, 2012, 8:52 p.m. CDT
AP

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar won an easy victory in the Democratic primary for her seat Tuesday, breezing past token opposition as she headed for the general election.

Klobuchar's likely Republican challenger, Kurt Bills, was leading two Republican opponents in early returns. Bills, a state representative from Rosemount, is the GOP's endorsed candidate in the race.

Returns started trickling in Tuesday evening, after a day in which candidates made last-minute pushes to encourage their supporters to vote in the primary. Low turnout made outcomes hard to predict in key races.

In the state's most closely watched races, three Democrats were vying to challenge GOP U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack in northeastern Minnesota's 8th District, while two Republicans sought the nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic Rep. Tim Walz in southern Minnesota's 1st District. Both those contests were too close to call in early returns.

In other House races, Reps. Erik Paulsen and Keith Ellison easily staved off primary challengers, and John Kline, Michelle Bachmann and Betty McCollum were expected to do the same.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie predicted turnout of less than 15 percent of eligible voters, and without the crowds of November, things were going smoothly around the state.

"Everything seems to be in order and all systems are go," Ritchie said.
In the 8th District, former state Sen. Tarryl Clark started Tuesday at the Hibbing Taconite plant and chatted with voters in Virginia and Eveleth before voting in Duluth, where her stops included a Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Former Duluth City Councilor Jeff Anderson began his day at the Minntac mine in Mountain Iron before campaigning and voting in Duluth.

He planned to greet workers at a paper mill later in the day.
Former U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan ditched plans to be in Duluth and concentrated his efforts around his home base of the Brainerd area.

All three painted themselves as having the best chance of unseating Cravaack, a conservative newcomer who upset longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Oberstar two years ago in what had been considered safe territory for the party.

Clark and Nolan turned up the negativity recently, with Clark running a TV ad last week that accused Nolan of "blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars" as head of the Minnesota World Trade Center more than two decades ago. Nolan struck back, calling her ad "gutter politics." Anderson's campaign hoped to benefit from voters turned off by the attacks.

Anderson began his day at the Minntac mine in Mountain Iron before campaigning and voting in Duluth. He scrubbed plans to greet workers at a paper mill later in the day and instead stood on a busy street corner in Duluth, waving and holding a sign saying "I need your vote."

In the 1st District, state Sen. Mike Parry made the rounds to coffee shops and other places in Waseca and Owatonna, while former state Rep. Allen Quist did media interviews.

The rural 1st can be swing territory, but Walz is seen as a formidable candidate come November. Parry and Quist didn't help themselves by tearing into each other after trading over-the-top comments. The week before the election, Parry was sharply criticized after accusing Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, of popping pills in a meeting.
Even in the 8th and the 1st, the vote was slow.

Duluth City Clerk Jeff Cox said voter traffic was less than it was two years ago, when there was a hotly contested gubernatorial primary.

"Probably one step above light is the turnout at the moment," Cox said.

On the Iron Range, Virginia City Clerk Lois Roskoski said turnout in her city was no more than 9 percent by midday, compared with about 18.5 percent four years ago.

In southern Minnesota, Blue Earth County Elections Director Patty O'Conner said the best turnout she had heard by late morning was a Mankato precinct that had seen all of 30 people. Olmsted County, home to the big population center of Rochester, reported the same.

The House and Senate races weren't alone on the ballot. Forty legislative primaries were under way, including three western suburban Twin Cities districts where Republican incumbents faced conservative challengers.

It's only the second time Minnesota has held its primary election in August since moving it up from September to give military and overseas voters more time to vote in the general election. But it's the first since the state redrew its congressional and legislative district boundaries to reflect population shifts.

Also up were two Minnesota Supreme Court races, where the top two vote-getters will advance to the November election.

Klobuchar, Bills win primaries; Minn. turnout lags | nola.com

Wisconsin Republican Senate Primary Results (Update – AP calls it for Thompson)

Posted by William A. Jacobson Tuesday, August 14, 2012

% Reporting - 81
√Thompson – 34.6
Hovde - 30.4
Neumann – 22.8
Fitzgerald – 12.2

11:30 Eastern – AP Calls race for former Governor Tommy Thompson — the more conservative/Tea Party vote was split between Hovde and Neumann, with Fitzgerald pulling in just over 10%, allowing Thompson to win with just over one-third of the vote.


This apparently is a real tweet from Emily’s List, calling the moderate Thompson an extremist:

EMILY's List

• ✔

@emilyslist
Here we go! Our @TammyBaldwinWI is squaring off against GOP extremist Tommy Thompson this November. Let’s send her to the Senate! #wisen

14 Aug 12
———————————–
Polls close at 9 p.m. Eastern. I’ll update at meaningful times, but will not follow it minute-by-minute.

Results at Politico. Keep up on Twitter with @SykesCharlie, @kevinbinversie and #wisen hashtag.

Polling has shown a tight race among Tommy Thompson, Eric Hovde and Mark Neumann, with state Senate Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald way back.
The winner faces Rep. Tammy Baldwin.

» Wisconsin Republican Senate Primary Results (Update – AP calls it for Thompson) - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion