WASHINGTON — Voters in four states will go to the polls Tuesday in primary elections that could offer the best window so far into the level of anti-incumbent, anti-establishment sentiment in the electorate.
Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania hold primaries Tuesday, and political observers are paying close attention to all but Oregon, where incumbent Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden is expected to win handily.
Democrats and Republicans are sweating over Senate races in Arkansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, which are considered prime tests of voter discontent with incumbents and the power of the Tea Party movement.
In Pennsylvania, incumbent Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter, who left the Republican Party last year because he thought he’d lose a GOP primary, has watched his comfortable double-digit lead evaporate to a statistical dead heat against Rep. Joe Sestak.
Specter’s slide has occurred despite the strong backing of President Barack Obama, the AFL-CIO and Pennsylvania’s popular Democratic governor, Ed Rendell.
Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney said that Specter’s woes were expected, given Republican Scott Brown’s surprising January election to the Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat long held by the late Democrat Edward Kennedy, three-term incumbent GOP Sen. Robert Bennett’s rejection May 8 by a Utah Republican Party convention, and 14-term Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan’s defeat Tuesday in West Virginia’s primary.
In Kentucky, endorsements from GOP kingmakers such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and former Vice President Dick Cheney apparently aren’t working for Trey Grayson in his quest for the Senate seat held by Republican Jim Bunning, who’s retiring.
Grayson, Kentucky’s secretary of state, trails Tea Party- backed Rand Paul by double digits.
In Arkansas, two-term Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln is battling Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who’s challenging the centrist incumbent from the left.
