Primary roundup across the nation

Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, easily won last night's Connecticut's Republican Senate primary over two rivals, money manager Peter Schiff and former Rep. Rob Simmons.

Simmons, the one-time favorite in the race, suspended his campaign months ago but got back into it recently.

McMahon was gaining nearly 49 percent of the vote in a three-way race, with returns counted from nearly 60 percent of the state's precincts.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was unopposed for the Democrats' Senate nomination to succeed retiring Chris Dodd, also a Democrat.

With Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell retiring, voters also settled a pair of contested gubernatorial primaries. Tom Foley, a businessman and former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, led a three-way race for the Republican nomination.

Among the Democrats, former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy held a double-digit advantage over Ned Lamont, a businessman making his second try for statewide office. Lamont won a Senate primary four years ago, upsetting Sen. Joe Lieberman, who then won a new term in the fall as an independent.

In other state primaries:

GEORGIA

Former Secretary of State Karen Handel and ex-Rep. Nathan Deal swapped leads in a close gubernatorial primary runoff.

The two Georgia Republicans vied for the right to take on former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes.

Deal was winning slightly more than 50 percent of the vote and Handel slightly less in returns from 40 percent of the state's precincts - a reversal of position from earlier in the evening. In deference to the national mood, both GOP contenders resigned from public office to run, Handel stepping down from her state position and Deal resigning his seat in Congress.

COLORADO

In the marquee race of the night, Sen. Michael Bennet battled primary challenger Andrew Romanoff, the latest in a string of incumbents to face serious challenges from within their own parties. So far this year, two senators and four House members have fallen.

Bennet was appointed to his seat nearly two years ago when Ken Salazar resigned to become Interior secretary in the Obama administration. Romanoff, a former speaker of the state House, had hoped for the appointment, and he spurned entreaties from senior party officials to skip the race with Bennet.

The Republican primary was equally intense, pitting former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton against Ken Buck, a county district attorney and former federal prosecutor. They, too, sparred over ownership of the outsider's credentials.

In the state's gubernatorial campaign, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was unchallenged for the Democratic nomination. The Republican rivals were former Rep. Scott McInnis and businessman Dan Maes, each marring their chances through self-inflicted wounds.

McInnis has acknowledged receiving $300,000 as part of a foundation fellowship for a water study report that was partly plagiarized. His chief rival, businessman Dan Maes, has paid $17,500 for violating campaign finance laws.

The spectacle prompted former Rep. Tom Tancredo to jump into the race as an independent, which in turn led state party chairman Dick Wadhams to say it would be difficult if not impossible to defeat the Democrat this fall.

MINNESOTAIn a state where Democrats have not elected a governor in nearly a quarter-century, former Sen. Mark Dayton, former state Rep. Matt Entenza and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher vied for the party's nomination. Republican state lawmaker Tom Emmer had only minor opposition, and recently announced a campaign shake-up to prepare for the fall.