ST. PAUL, Minn. — After millions of dollars and 19 months spent pursuing a U.S. Senate seat, comedian Al Franken sought Tuesday to nail the Democratic nomination in his childhood home of Minnesota.
The former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, author and radio-show host came in as the clear favorite in a seven-way primary to determine Republican Sen. Norm Coleman’s fall challenger. Coleman also had a primary opponent — an expatriate living in Italy.
Minnesota voters joined those in six other states and the District of Columbia in deciding general-election matchups.
Nominations for House, Senate and governor are on the line, along with the fate of another TV celebrity: Kevin Powell, a former cast member on MTV’s “Real World,” who is running for Congress in New York.
Primaries also took place in New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconsin, Delaware and Rhode Island. Some key contests:
• Decisions by two incumbents to give up their House seats led to scrambles in New York. The retirement of once-powerful Republican Rep. Thomas Reynolds gave hope to three Democrats vying for a chance at the Buffalo-area seat. Democratic and Republican primaries were needed to sort out the race to replace GOP Rep. Vito Fossella, who is leaving Congress amid a drunken-driving arrest and revelations he fathered an out-of-wedlock child.
• A third New York race had 13-term Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns of Brooklyn trying to fend off a challenge from writer Kevin Powell, who gained fame as a cast member in the inaugural season of MTV’s “Real World.”
• In New Hampshire’s closely watched Senate race, Republican Sen. John Sununu and former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen easily won their primaries and resumed focus on their hard-fought rematch of 2002.
• New Hampshire voters were also deciding who would face off for the state’s two House seats. In one, former Rep. Jeb Bradley and ex-state agency head John Stephen, both Republicans, wanted a shot at freshman Democratic Rep. Carol Shea Porter. In the other, four Republicans were in the hunt to challenge first-term Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes.
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