GOP senator on ropes and 4 other keys to primary day
GOP senator on ropes and 4 other keys to primary day
Catalina Camia, USA TODAY 3 a.m. EDT June 3, 2014
WASHINGTON – The fate of Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, who was first elected in 1978, tops the races to watch Tuesday as eight states hold primary elections.
The primaries will set up key November contests in Iowa, South Dakota and Montana that will help decide whether Republicans can win the six seats they need to take control of the U.S. Senate. Voters in Alabama, California and New Jersey also head to the polls. Here are five things to watch:
MISSISSIPPI SENATE
Cochran, a courtly Southerner who is 76 years old, is a throwback to an era when bringing home the bacon was king. The ex-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee faces Tea Party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel, 41, who has made Cochran's six terms an issue. The Republican race took a bizarre twist when four people, including a couple of McDaniel supporters, were charged after one of them photographed Cochran's bedridden wife at her nursing home. Rose Cochran suffers from dementia. McDaniel has said he had nothing to do with the incident, but it has all but eclipsed his call for change in Washington. Thomas Carey is also running. The GOP nominee will be the favorite against likely Democratic nominee Travis Childers, a former congressman.
IOWA SENATE
Clever TV ads portraying state Sen. Joni Ernst as a hog-castrating, Harley-riding Iraq War vet helped make her the front-runner in the five-way Republican race for Senate. Ernst is the rare GOP candidate this year who can boast of bringing together the establishment (via Mitt Romney and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and Tea Party (through Sarah Palin and Marco Rubio) into her fold. Ernst needs to top 35% to avoid a runoff with businessman Mark Jacobs, her closest challenger heading into Tuesday's Iowa primary. Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley is unopposed in his Senate primary. Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin is retiring.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/03/senate-primaries-cochran-ernst-five-things/9879819/
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