GOP keeps R.I. Senate seat in play

Moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who has bucked President Bush on tax cuts and the war in Iraq, defeated a conservative challenger Tuesday in a contest crucial to the larger fight for control of Congress.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Chafee was declared the winner with 33,685 votes, or 53 percent, to Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey’s 26,276 votes, or 46 percent.

Chafee, whose challenge was seen as the latest test of anti-incumbent sentiment and the polarization of politics, told supporters: “Our goal has always been to find the common ground for the common good.”

The last big day of primaries before the November elections set up contests between conservatives and moderates in Arizona, too. In all, nine states and the District of Columbia voted, with the other states being Arizona, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Wisconsin.

In New York, frontrunning Democrats swept aside primary challengers – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton trounced an anti-war candidate in her re-election bid, Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer crushed his opposition for the Democratic nod for governor, and Andrew Cuomo easily won the party nomination for attorney general.

In Minnesota, state Rep. Keith Ellison won the Democratic nomination for an open House seat that could make him the first Muslim in Congress. In a reliably Democratic district that’s voted close to 70 percent for the Democrat for nearly 30 years, he’s likely the fall winner, too.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., pumps his fists before addressing supporters at his election night rally in Providence, R.I. Chafee defeated Republican challenger Stephen Laffey, mayor of Cranston, R.I., in a close race Tuesday.

In Rhode Island, polls show Chafee will still face a tough contest against Democratic nominee Sheldon Whitehouse, a former attorney general. But if Chafee had lost, polls showed Whitehouse was almost assured a victory. Democrats hope to build on national dismay with Bush and Congress to capture majorities in Congress, and they need six Senate seats.

In Arizona, a similar contest played out between conservative and moderate Republicans in a House race for a seat left open by retiring moderate GOP Rep. Jim Kolbe. National GOP leaders angered local Republican candidates when they jumped into the race to support moderate state Rep. Steve Huffman.

But with half the precincts reporting, Huffman was in a razor-thin race with conservative former state lawmaker Randy Graf, who had made his opposition to illegal immigration the center of his campaign.

Party officials have expressed concerns Graf may be too conservative to win the seat in November. The leading Democratic contenders are former state legislator Gabrielle Giffords and former local television anchor Patty Weiss.

With 28 percent of precincts reporting in Maryland for the Democratic nomination for Senate, 20-year Rep. Ben Cardin was leading Kweisi Mfume, former head of the NAACP, with 45 percent of the vote to Mfume’s 36 percent. Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes has announced his retirement.

The winner will likely face GOP Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who – if he wins – would be the lone black Republican in the Senate. He had nine rivals for the Republican nomination but was expected to win easily.