Few Surprises in Tuesday Primaries as Stage is Set for November

All eyes are on elections in key states such as Arkansas, South Carolina, California and Nevada.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - With nationwide polls showing voter anger at an all-time high, twelve states narrowed the field in party primaries and runoff elections on Tuesday.

Arkansas Senator Blanch Lincoln (D) pulled off a narrow victory in a hard-fought campaign from Lt. Governor Bill Halter. Many credit for President Clinton's recent campaigning as the reason for her win. She will face Republican Congressman John Boozman in the November election.

While the Democrats seem to be more on the defensive, no one is safe, given the mood of the country. Republican South Carolina Representative Bob Inglis finds himself still fighting for life, facing a runoff election against Trey Gowdy who outpaced the incumbent 39 to 27 percent.

The South Carolina governor's race got its share of the spotlight recently with Republican candidate Nikki Haley being accused of infidelity. On Tuesday she could not quite break the 50 percent barrier, garnering 48.8 percent of the vote. She will face Gresham Barrett in a runoff to determine who will face Vincent Sheehan.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sailed to an easy victory in his party's primary with contenders scoring only single digit returns. His Republican opponent is not yet officially known, with only a small percentage of precincts reporting.

On the Republican side, Sharron Angle has pulled ahead of Sue Lowden by 3 points with 15 percent of precincts reporting. Earlier Angle had been trailing by less than 1 percent. Danny Tarkanian, in third place, trails by more than 15 points with only 20 percent of the vote.

While only a small number of precincts have reported in California, at this hour it looks like incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer, who cruised to victory, will face Carly Fiorina in November.

In California's Gubernatorial race, Democrat Jerry Brown, who held that office from 1975 to 1983, will face former eBay executive, Republican Meg Whitman. Both had large margins even when a small number of precincts had report.

As many incumbents in these states ran uncontested and some maintained their party's favor, in these states it looks like the real fight is yet to come.

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