Primary Day in Texas
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on March 2nd, 2010 5:39 am by HL
Primary Day in Texas
Texas voters head to the polls today and the race most watched is the Republican gubernatorial primary between Gov. Rick Perry (R), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) and Debra Medina (R).
The Dallas Morning News notes the “unprecedented battle between the two-term governor and three-term senator has stretched more than a year and consumed tens of millions of dollars. But for all the TV ads and attacks on each other, the dynamic appears little changed in months. Perry, riding a wave of anti-Washington sentiment, appears to have a comfortable lead, while Hutchison is trying to keep her bid alive for a few more weeks with a runoff.”
At one point Medina “appeared to be battling Hutchison for second place but may have slipped in recent days because of a lack of money for television ads and a failure to quickly disavow a possible government conspiracy in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.”
Austin American Statesman: “If early voting in the state’s big counties was any indication, turnout for today’s election will be high. About 306,000 people voted early in the Republican primary this year in the state’s 15 largest counties, more than doubling early vote turnout in those counties compared with the 2006 Republican primary for governor.”
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Specter Pushes Ahead of Toomey
A new Quinnipiac poll in Pennsylvania finds Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) has retaken the lead over challenger Pat Toomey (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 49% to 42%.
In the Democratic primary, Specter is crushing challenger Joe Sestak (D), 53% to 29%.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Sen. Arlen Specter seems to be having a good winter politically. He is back ahead of Republican Pat Toomey after having been essentially tied with him since last summer, and there remains no evidence that his primary challenger, Congressman Joe Sestak, has made much progress as we get within three months of the May primary.”
