Voters choose fall matchups, decide Lincoln's fate

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Voters choose fall matchups, decide Lincoln's fate

By LIZ SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer Liz Sidoti, Ap National Political

Writer – 32 mins ago

WASHINGTON – With frustrated voters poised to unleash their wrath, unpopular

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and vulnerable Sen. Barbara Boxer will find

out their Republican opponents this fall. And fellow Democratic Sen. Blanche

Lincoln will learn whether she'll even be on the November ballot.

Their states — Nevada, California and Arkansas — are among 12 holding primaries

and runoffs Tuesday, the busiest night thus far of this year's congressional and

gubernatorial elections.

Voters are choosing Democratic and Republican nominees for governor in several

states like Iowa, where the general election contest was certain to be

competitive. GOP primary voters in South Carolina also are settling a nasty

four-way contest.

The outcomes will determine matchups for November, when Democrats will try to

maintain their comfortable majorities in the House and Senate and overcome

Republican challenges in dozens of gubernatorial races.

Although Democrats are on defense, the results of previous primaries make clear

that neither party is safe from voters' ire.

Nationwide, Democrats and Republicans alike are facing an electorate filled with

people like Judy Hamilton of Columbia, S.C., who voted in the GOP primary even

though she says, " I don't believe very many politicians or very many people on

the political scene. "

Across the board, voters are angry over the state of the country, from the

persistent economic woes to the typical ways of Washington. And earlier

nominating contests in Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia and Alabama indicated

that voters are willing to fire Washington incumbents — regardless of party.

That said, the party that controls the White House typically takes a big beating

in the president's first midterm elections, and an increasingly difficult

political environment for Democrats is boosting the GOP's hopes of a victorious

November. President Barack Obama's job performance rating is hovering around 50

percent, and most people say the nation is on the wrong track.

The centrist Lincoln, a two-term senator, may be the next veteran lawmaker to

fall.

She's in a runoff against Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who is being supported

by labor unions and liberal groups that have spent millions to try to unseat the

White House-backed senator. They were forced into a two-way race for the party

nomination after neither captured 50 percent of the vote in the May 18 primary.

The anti-incumbent mood also has put the vulnerable Reid of Nevada and Boxer of

California on notice that they'll face tough re-election fights regardless of

whom Republicans nominate.

In Nevada, three Republicans sought the chance to take on Reid — whose

popularity is low in Nevada — and tea party darling Sharron Angle was considered

the candidate to beat. In California, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive

Carly Fiorina was leading the three-candidate field for the chance to challenge

Boxer.

California also hosts a marquee GOP primary in the race to succeed term-limited

GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Republican billionaire Meg Whitman, a former

eBay chief executive who has spent more than $70 million of her own fortune,

faced state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner, a wealthy former businessman.

Attorney General Jerry Brown, a former governor, is the likely Democratic

nominee.

Also, Republicans appear ready to oust Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons in the wake of

his messy divorce; former federal judge Sandoval is favored for the GOP

nomination. The victor will run against the all-but-certain Democratic nominee

Rory Reid, the senator's son.

Elsewhere, South Carolina Republicans are choosing a successor for the

term-limited and scandal-scarred GOP Gov. Mark Sanford, and the victor probably

will become governor of the heavily Republican state. State Rep. Nikki Haley had

the advantage in the final days; she is trying to become the state's first

female governor and overcome allegations of infidelity, which she denies.

Three Republicans in Iowa — including former Gov. Terry Branstad — are battling

for the right to oppose Democrat Chet Culver, considered one of the nation's

most vulnerable governors.