Ind., Ohio, NC voters weigh party-preferred candidates, challengers in setting up Senate races

By Tom Davies, AP
Tuesday, May 4, 2010

3 primaries pit party preferences against upstarts

INDIANAPOLIS — Tea party activists haven’t liked former Republican Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana from the time he launched a comeback campaign three months ago. Now he’ll find out what that means for his bid to retake his old Senate seat.

Coats has support from the state and Washington GOP establishment that recruited him, making Indiana’s primary election one of three Tuesday that will test whether party backing is enough to secure a nomination and, in some cases, signal the strength of the tea party coalition.

Open Senate seats in Indiana and Ohio and the Democratic race for a challenger to North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr top ballots as the states kick off a wave of primaries during the next several months.

The stakes are high for Coats, who had been out of office 12 years when he decided in February to challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh. The GOP hoped to capitalize on what was expected to be a bad year for Democrats, but the race was turned upside down just days later when Bayh decided to not seek re-election.

Coats has been criticized as an old-guard Washington lobbyist whose time has passed. Many tea party activists — a mix of conservatives and libertarians hungry for fresh blood in Washington — instead are backing state Sen. Marlin Stutzman or former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler for the GOP nomination.

“I think most of that is more of the ‘let’s throw all the rascals out regardless of who they are and where they’ve been’ kind of thing,’” former Indiana Republican chairman Mike McDaniel said.

In Ohio, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, a former state attorney general backed by Democrats in Washington and Gov. Ted Strickland, was leading in pre-primary surveys against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The two are battling for the Democratic nomination to fill the Senate seat of retiring Republican George Voinovich.

The winner will face former Rep. Rob Portman, the budget director and trade representative under George W. Bush, in November.

North Carolina Democrats will choose a challenger to face the Republican Burr, who’s seeking his second Senate term.

Cal Cunningham, a former North Carolina state senator who went to Iraq as an Army prosecutor, is the favored choice of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He’s looking to withstand spirited challenges from five others, including Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and attorney Ken Lewis. A candidate will need 40 percent of the vote to avoid a two-person June 22 runoff.

The North Carolina race has been closely watched since Democrat Kay Hagan ousted Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole two years ago. Democrats believe Burr is vulnerable, with an Elon University poll released in April showing him with a 37 percent approval rate. Burr has three challengers of his own in the GOP primary but, as an incumbent, is expected to easily win the nomination.

Rep. Howard Coble, the longest-serving GOP House member in North Carolina history who first won his seat in 1984, is trying to fend off five opponents. They argue Coble hasn’t been strong enough in opposing Democratic spending and didn’t carry out Republican Party principles when the GOP controlled Congress.

Indiana voters, meanwhile, also will decide the likely replacement for Republican Rep. Steve Buyer, who decided to retire after 18 years in Congress because his wife has been diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease. Secretary of State Todd Rokita and state Sens. Brandt Hershman and Mike Young are among 13 candidates in the heavily Republican district.

Indiana’s current longest-serving congressman, Republican Rep. Dan Burton, is in a tough fight for a 15th term as he faces several prominent challengers, including physician John McGoff, who received 45 percent of the vote in a narrow 2008 primary loss to Burton. Another Indiana race has Republican Rep. Mark Souder fighting Bob Thomas, a well-funded auto dealer who says the congressman isn’t a true fiscal conservative.

“I didn’t even know it was legal to be to the right of me,” Souder said.

The winner of Indiana’s Republican Senate primary will face two-term Rep. Brad Ellsworth. A Democratic state committee caucus meets May 15 to pick the party’s nominee because Bayh dropped out too late for any candidate to qualify for the primary ballot. Ellsworth is the only candidate.

The retirements of Bayh and Voinovich — and the open race for President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat in Illinois — could make the Midwest a battleground for control of the Senate come November.

Former Indiana Democratic chairman Kip Tew, who helped organize the Obama presidential campaign that saw the state go Democratic for the first time since 1964, said he was eager for his party to argue Obama and the congressional Democrats have been successful.

“They’ve gotten in, gotten their hands dirty and done the hard work that was necessary to pull the country back above ground,” Tew said. “I think all this negativity about them, while expected from the Republicans, is really a completely skewed picture.”

Associated Press writers Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; Deanna Martin in Indianapolis; Mike Baker in Raleigh, N.C.; and Liz Sidoti in Washington contributed to this report.

YOUR VIEW POINT
NAME : (REQUIRED)
MAIL : (REQUIRED)
will not be displayed
WEBSITE : (OPTIONAL)
YOUR
COMMENT :