Go Joe

I'm pulling for Joe today. The voters in Connecticut should be hard pressed to boot a long standing, seniority holding Senator just because he kissed a sitting President from the opposite party.

This is the first test for the Bush White House this election season. Oh Joe's a Democrat, but his ties to the President were enough to fracture his support within the Connecticut Democrats. If this is the kind of treatment the electorate is giving a Democrat with loose ties to the White House, makes you wonder how they'll treat the Lock Step Republican candidates.

We'll find out by midnight! But I'm still pulling for Joe!

Flash

Other Primaries today:

In Georgia, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who made headlines this year for a scuffle with a U.S. Capitol Police officer, faced a runoff for her district's Democratic nomination (ed- and she's down 13 in the latest poll). -snip- McKinney, the state's first black woman in Congress, once claimed the Bush administration had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. In March, she struck a Capitol Police officer who did not recognize her and tried to stop her from entering a House office building.

A grand jury in Washington declined to indict her, but she was forced to apologize in the full House. She drew less than 50 percent of the vote in last month's primary and faced Hank Johnson, the black former commissioner of DeKalb County, which encompasses much of Atlanta.

In a radio ad, McKinney acknowledged that she's "not perfect. But I've worked hard, told you the truth and I'm not afraid to speak truth to power,'' she said.

—In Colorado's heavily conservative 5th District, voters chose among six GOP candidates to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Joel Hefley, a 10-year veteran. The winner will face Democratic Air Force veteran Jay Fawcett. In another race, three Democrats competed to replace U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, the Republican nominee for governor.

—Michigan Republican Rep. Joe Schwarz faced a serious challenge from former state lawmaker Tim Walberg (ed- Walberg leads Schwarz, 37-34 ). Schwarz, a moderate Republican, was backed by President Bush, Arizona Sen. John McCain and the National Rifle Association. But the race was dominated by a struggle over GOP principles. Outside groups have spent more than $1 million on the race.

—Missouri Republican Sen. Jim Talent and Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill, the state auditor, were expected to win their party's primaries. Voters will also decide whether to renew a 22-year-old sales tax to fund state parks and other conservation initiatives.