Whitman and
Fiorina Win in California
Published: June 8, 2010 - New York Times
WASHINGTON — Carly
Fiorina and Meg
Whitman, who ascended to the top of the business world before turning to
politics, prevailed in their respective battles for the G.O.P.
nominations for the U,.S. Senate and Governor in California, according to
projections by The Associated Press.
Ms. Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, beat Tom Campbell,
a former congressman, and Chuck DeVore, whose candidacy has drawn the backing of
many Tea Party activists. She will face the incumbent senator, Barbara
Boxer, in the fall.
Ms. Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay and a billionaire, had
invested a small share of her personal fortune to prevail in the governorfs race
over Steve
Poizner, the state insurance commissioner, who put up $24 million of his own
money into his primary campaign. She will challenge Jerry Brown, the statefs
attorney general, who was first elected governor of California three decades
ago.
Senator Blanche
Lincoln held off a strong challenge Tuesday from a fellow Democrat to
prevail in the battle for the partyfs Senate nomination, giving her a chance to
win a third term in November and avoid the fate of other incumbents turned out
of office this year.
Ms. Lincoln prevailed in the run-off over Lt. Gov. Bill
Halter, despite millions of dollars spent on his behalf by organized labor
and other special interests, setting up a general election race with
Representative John Boozman, the Republican chosen late last month.
The Arkansas result came after a bruising Republican primary race for the
South Carolina gubernatorial nomination was forced into a runoff of its own
after Nikki Haley overcame accusations of marital infidelity. Ms. Haley will
face U.S. Representative J. Gresham Barrett.
Ms. Haley, a state legislator, fell just short of claiming an outright
majority of votes and now faces a June 22 primary with Mr. Barrett, a four-term
congressman.
gWe had the kitchen sink thrown at us,h Ms. Haley said in an interview on
Tuesday. gWe are a state of great people. We are a state of dirty politics.h
In recent weeks, she had been twice accused of infidelity by men allied with
her opponents. She fiercely denied the suggestions. She rose in the polls by
promising to break up an entrenched network that has dominated state politics
for decades and she portrayed the unsubstantiated charges of extramarital
affairs as retaliation for taking on special interests.
The Arkansas and South Carolina contests were among the main events in a
cross-country series of primaries in which voters were also picking Republican
challengers for Senator Harry
Reid of Nevada, the embattled Senate majority leader, and Senator Barbara
Boxer of California, a liberal seeking her fourth term in November.
Elsewhere, voters were choosing candidates for governor in California and
several other states. Races to choose Republican Congressional challengers were
being closely watched in Virginia, Iowa, South Carolina and California, among
other states.
In the first notable result of the night, Robert Hurt, a Virginia state
senator, easily won a contested Republican primary to challenge Representative
Tom Perriello, a freshman Democrat, in November. Mr. Perriello is considered one
of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents because of his votes for both the
health care bill and climate
change measures.
And in the only contest of the night that sent a new lawmaker to Congress,
voters in the northwest corner of Georgia elected a former state House member,
Tom Graves, a Republican, to fill a House vacancy created when Representative Nathan
Deal left to run for governor. It was a low-turnout election and is expected
to be the last special Congressional election before November, meaning that any
new vacancies will be filled on Nov. 2.
In another South Carolina race, Representative Bob Inglis, a Republican who
has occasionally broken with his party on national security and social issues,
was forced into a runoff against Trey Gowdy.
Out West, Nevada Republicans were selecting a challenger for Mr. Reid, the
top Senate Democrat, who has been trailing potential Republican contenders in
state polls until recent days. Sharron Angle, a conservative Tea Party
candidate, was considered a top Republican challenger after Sue Lowden ran into
heavy criticism for comments on health care reform.
Danny Tarkanian, a businessman who had tried to stay out of the fight between
Ms. Lowden and Ms. Angle, was hoping to pull an upset.
Robbie Brown contributed reporting.