Primary roundup across U.S.

Linda McMahon easily won the Republican Senate primary in Connecticut last night to join the slate of outsider-candidates who will carry the GOP banner this fall.

McMahon, former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, will face Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in the fall. She will begin the fall campaign as the underdog, although she has vowed to spend as much as $50 million of her own money in hope of capturing a seat long held by retiring Democrat Christopher Dodd.

The two rivals could not be less alike: he the longtime statewide officeholder and she the political neophyte whose rise is part of a nationwide political trend that favors outsiders.

Among her primary victims was former Rep. Rob Simmons, who began the primary campaign as the favorite and fell so far behind that he suspended his candidacy earlier in the year. He rejoined the race in recent weeks as attacks focused on the sometimes raunchy scenes that are part of WWE's appeal, but 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.

With Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell retiring, voters also settled a pair of contested gubernatorial primaries.

Among the Democrats, former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy defeated businessman Ned Lamont for the nomination. Lamont won a Senate primary four years ago in one of the standout races of the 2006 campaign, upsetting Sen. Joe Lieberman, who then won a new term in the fall as an independent.

Tom Foley, a businessman and former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, won a three-way race for the Republican nomination.

COLORADO

Appointed Sen. Michael Bennet won the Democratic nomination to a full term, overcoming a fierce primary challenge at home and an outbreak of anti-establishment fever nationwide.

Bennet was gaining 54 percent of the vote compared with 45 percent for Andrew Romanoff, the former speaker of the state House, as he defied a trend that has dealt defeat to a half-dozen U.S. Senate and House incumbents in other states.

Bennet was appointed to his seat nearly two years ago when Ken Salazar resigned to become Interior secretary in the Obama administration. Romanoff 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 if not more so. Prosecutor Ken Buck defeated former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton in a close contest.

MINNESOTA

Conservative State Rep. Tom Emmer easily won the Republican nomination for governor. Four Democrats sought the opposing spot on the ballot.

Democrats have not elected a governor in nearly a quarter-century, and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher led in a three-way race for a chance to end the slide. She had 43 percent of the vote, with results counted from about one-third of the state's precincts. Former Sen. Mark Dayton, her closest pursuer, trailed narrowly with 38 percent.

Five rivals vied for the independent line on the fall ballot - in a state where Jesse Ventura was elected governor a dozen years ago as a third party contender. Tom Horner, a public relations executive, lapped the field, but he drew only a few thousand votes, far fewer than either Emmer or any of the leading Democrats.

GEORGIA

On a four-state primary night, former Rep. Nathan Deal led ex-Secretary of State Karen Handel narrowly in late returns in a Republican gubernatorial runoff. The two vied for the right to take on former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes.