3 Big Primaries Test Voter Rage

Arlen Specter, Blanche Lincoln, Rand Paul in key races
By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff
Posted May 17, 2010 6:50 AM CDT
3 Big Primaries Test Voter Rage
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul gestures while speaking at a Republican dinner in Georgetown, Ky., Saturday, May 15, 2010.   (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

Look to three big primaries tomorrow, in both parties, for a test of the country's anti-establishment rage and the chances that Congress will be even more polarized after November, reports the Los Angeles Times. In Pennsylvania, Democratic challenger Joe Sestak has pulled even with Arlen Specter with ads sneering that Specter "switched parties to save one job: his, not yours." In Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln also faces a strong challenger from the left for her vote against the health care bill.

But the ultimate measure of voters' wrath may come in Kentucky, where Tea Party-backed libertarian Rand Paul is running ahead of establishment pick Trey Grayson in the GOP primary. Both liberal and conservative activists are unhappy with Congress, a political analyst tells the Times, so "both think they need to elect people who are going to be louder, more ideologically motivated and more confrontational." (More Arkansas primary stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X