John Nichols, The Nation, on Democracy Now! today:

[babylonsister]

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/13/1331228

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006
Primaries Held in Nine States

Nine states held primaries on Tuesday, the last day of primary battles before the November elections. Among the results, Rhode Island Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee fended off a challenge from Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey and Minnesota state legislator Keith Ellison won the Democratic Congressional nomination in the state's fifth district putting him on a path to become the first Muslim member of Congress. We discuss some of the races with John Nichols of The Nation. Nine states held primaries on Tuesday, the last day of primary battles before the November elections. Voters went to the polls to decide party nominees for Senate, House of Representatives and governor's offices.

The most closely-watched contest was in Rhode Island, where Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee fended off a challenge from Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey. The race was seen as crucial to Republican hopes of retaining Senate control in November.

In New York, Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton won a renomination over anti-war challenger Jonathan Tasini. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer won the Democratic nomination for governor.

In Minnesota's fifth district, Keith Ellison, a state legislator, won the Democratic Congressional nomination defeating three rivals to put him on a path to become the first Muslim member of Congress.

In Maryland, results were coming in slowly after election problems early in the day. Some polls opened late, and voters were turned away at others. The latest results put Democratic Congressmember Ben Cardin ahead of rival Kweisi Mfume in the battle to replace retiring Senator Paul Sarbanes. The winner will face Republican nominee Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele in November. In the state's 4th Congressional District, veteran activist Donna Edwards is closely trailing incumbent Albert Wynn in her Democratic primary challenge.

Parties also picked candidates in Arizona, Delaware New Hampshire and Wisconsin and Washington DC.

* John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine and runs a blog on their website called The Online Beat. Nichols is also a contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times and the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison Wisconsin.