What Voter Anger

All we have heard about is voter anger in recent months.  Well, a round of primaries in Ohio, North Carolina and Indiana didn't have much evidence of anything but re-election for members of Congress.

As I like to say about the House and Senate, most everyone hates the Congress, except their own members.  And last night was a perfect example.

Only a handful of incumbents had challenges to even talk about, and only one of them had to sweat out the vote tallies.

That was Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), who barely won the GOP nomination in Indiana's 5th Congressional District.  Burton, in fact, was held to 30% of the vote in a multi-candidate primary.

But he won.

Another closely watched race in Indiana was the GOP Senate fight, where former Sen. Dan Coats won the Republican nomination by a comfortable ten point margin over Marlin Stutzman, who had garnered some strong conservative endorsements in recent days.

You could almost consider Coats the incumbent, since he will now be favored to take the seat currently held by Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), who is not running for re-election.

In Ohio, there was no upheaval to speak of, other than the Lieutenant Governor winning the Democratic Senate nomination by less than what the polls had been predicting.

Down in North Carolina, no Congressional incumbents were in any jeopardy on Primary Night, as the big news was that there will be a runoff for the Democratic Senate nomination in the Tar Heel State.

If you're looking for interesting election nights, we've got a good one coming up on May 18, when voters go to the polls in Arkansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Those three states feature a Democratic Senate fight (Arkansas), a GOP Senate battle (Kentucky) and a special election in the Keystone State for the seat of the late Rep. John Murtha, a seat that could go to the GOP.

And as for voter anger, there's always this weekend, when Republicans in Utah may bounce out a sitting U.S. Senator at the party's nominating conventions.

Analysts are still predicting carnage in November.  We'll see in coming months whether any current members of Congress get dumped before the leaves even start turning.

All we have heard about is voter anger in recent months.  Well, a round of primaries in Ohio, North Carolina and Indiana didn't have much evidence of anything but re-election for members of Congress. As I like to say about the House and Senate, most everyone hates the Congress, except ...