Now that we are getting some clearer returns I thought I’d focus on some of the races that are getting attention from the voters.
LINCOLN WINS
With 75% of the vote in Lincoln holds to the same 51-49 lead.
Not that the networks care, but I’m calling this one for Lincoln
UPDATE #4: We’ve got nearly 65% of the vote counted and Lincoln is back on top 51-49 (about 4,500 votes)
Things are still pending but it looks like Halter is going to have to make a surge soon if he’s going to pull off a victory.
Of course that may not matter in November as the GOP seems likely to pick off this seat.
UPDATE #3: On the heels of the comments from Nate, Halter has pulled ahead in the voting, but things are still close and close to half the vote yet to come.
Baseball nut and stats cruncher Nate Silver is suggesting that Halter is in deep trouble based on the current returns versus his showing in the first primary
UPDATE #2: With nearly 40% the vote counted in Arkansas incumbent Lincoln continues to lead Halter by a narrow margin. Could she pull off an upset ?
In Maine results seem to have stalled in the multi candidate primaries.
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In South Carolina the race for Governor is over on the Democratic side with State Senator Vincent Sheheen winning about 58% of the vote and thus avoiding a runoff.
He will face either State Representative Nikki Haley or Congressman Gresham Barrett. Right now Haley remains is close to the 50% she needs to avoid a runoff but is still about 1% short with 84% of the vote counted. Most polling shows Haley would win the runoff and it is possible Barrett would decline the runoff if she comes close: (UPDATE: Networks are calling this a runoff)
On the Senate side we seem to have an upset in the Democratic primary with a first time candidate, 32 year old Alvin Greene winning. Greene is an unemployed veteran who entered the race but didn’t do much campaigning. He is unlikely to beat GOP Senator Jim DeMint but he did score an upset tonight.
In House District 4, GOP incumbent Bob Inglis is running 2nd though a runoff is likely
In Arkansas we have the runoff between incumbent Democrat Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Governor Bill Halter. With just 20% of the vote counted she leads 52-48. Most polls had predicted she’d lose so we will have to see if maybe these results are from her strong areas.
In Maine we have a race for Governor with seven Republican and five Democrats running. Right now the leader in the GOP race is Waterville Mayor Paul LePage while the leader for the Democrats is State Senate President Libby Mitchell.
There are also several independents on the ballot for the fall so this is going to be quite a show, though most polls suggest the Democrats will have the edge here.