No Constituency Moat Around Delaware's Castle

Christine O'Donnell

The "tea party" partied hearty on the last big night of primaries Tuesday. In one of the most stunning results of the midterm season, marketing consultant Christine O'Donnell, backed with endorsements from tea party activists and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, became the latest "outsider" candidate to knock off an establishment-backed Republican by defeating Rep. Michael N. Castle in Delaware's Senate primary. In New Hampshire, another tea party-backed conservative, Ovide Lamontagne, held a steady lead over the establishment favorite, former state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, in the state's GOP Senate primary with about a quarter of the votes counted. No winner had been declared in the vote at presstime. The big early story in the District of Columbia's closely watched mayoral primary was the logistical breakdown, as new voting procedures and confusion at the polls meant that just a tiny fraction of the votes had been publicly recorded some three hours after the polls closed at 8 p.m.



Ovide Lamontagne

 And in New York City, scandal-tarred Democratic veteran Rep. Charles B. Rangel appeared to be surviving a rare primary challenge, holding a strong early lead in returns in his Harlem district. In yet another tea party-engineered upset, businessman Carl Paladino was declared the winner over former GOPRep. Rick Lazio in New York's gubernatorial primary, and will take on Democratic state Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo. Read more here:

No Constituency Moat Around Delaware's Castle