Tuesday's Primaries: The Outlook for Fall

By Mark Halperin Thursday, June 10, 2010
    • Danny Johnston / AP

    Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., greets supporters as her husband Steve, left, watches as the senator claimed victory in the Democratic primary runoff election in Little Rock, Ark., Tuesday, June 8, 2010.

    The June 8 primaries yielded some marquee matchups and one key runoff. The main message: Outsiders are in .

    California Former Silicon Valley CEOs and political newcomers Meg Whitman (eBay) and Carly Fiorina (Hewlett-Packard) face career politicians in a state usually unfriendly to female GOP candidates. Both Senator Barbara Boxer, who will face Fiorina in a bid for a fourth term, and Attorney General Jerry Brown, who will take on Whitman in the race for the governor's job, are counting on rookie mistakes.

    Nevada

    Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid isn't popular in his home state, but he's slightly favored now, with millions of dollars available to define Tea Party darling and former assemblywoman Sharron Angle as outside the mainstream. Angle has favored scaling back Social Security, Medicare and the Education Department; she will need to avoid making errors Reid can exploit.

    South Carolina

    State representative Nikki Haley will likely beat out U.S. Representative J. Gresham Barrett in the runoff for the GOP nod and become the next governor. Like Whitman and Fiorina, she's a potential 2012 vice-presidential prospect.

    Arkansas

    Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln lived to fight another day by withstanding a multimillion-dollar onslaught from MoveOn.org and national labor unions. With the help of favorite son Bill Clinton, Lincoln fused her centrist credentials with populist economic swagger to win handily. Now she has to fight Representative John Boozman and the state's anti-Obama tide in November.