From MSNBC

The Fix — Chris Cillizza’s Politics Blog on washingtonpost.com
Posted at 10:24 AM ET, 09/13/2006
Primary Recap: A Look at the Winners and Losers

Anytime voters in nine states vote on a single day, there are any number of winners and losers to choose from.

The biggest winner of the Sept. 12 primaries was Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who defeated Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey in a tightly contested Republican primary. While Chafee’s win was somewhat surprising, most of the other high-profile race played out to form. Rep. Ben Cardin’s financial advantage led him to a victory over former Rep. Kweisi Mfume in Maryland’s Democratic Senate primary, while former state Rep. Randy Graf came out on top in the Republican primary in Arizona’s open 8th congressional district — virtually ensuring that Democrats will pick up that seat in November.

As always, The Fix seeks to provide its readers with more than just the election results. What follows is a look at some less obvious winners and losers from yesterday’s primaries. Have suggestions for winners and losers of your own? Post in the comments section.

Cardin Wins Md. Senate Primary - washingtonpost.com
Schaefer Apparently Ousted by Franchot

By Matthew Mosk and John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 13, 2006; 11:40 AM

U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin beat out former NAACP president Kweisi Mfume to win the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, even as chaos at polling sites Tuesday delayed final results and left some other races too close to call.

With 93.3 percent of precincts reporting by 9 a.m. , Cardin had 45.8 percent of the vote and Mfume had 37.7 percent.

Rhode Island Primary Blog 2006
Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey conceded the Republican nomination to Sen. Lincoln Chafee tonight.

At 10:45 p.m., Lincoln Chafee had a growing lead over Stephen Laffey with 81 percent of the votes counted. Chafee gave his victory speech at around 11 p.m.

The Board of Elections reported that with 81 percent of 515 precincts reporting, Chafee had 27,580 votes to 23,579 for Laffey. That means with less than one fifth of the vote to be counted, Chafee had an 8 percentage-point lead.

At the Biltmore, hundreds of Chafee supports began celebrating shortly after 10 p.m. The mood was electric as campaign workers watched Laffey deliver his concession speech.

Governor Carcieri told the crowd: “We’re rolling into November and we’re going to have a sweep.'’

More to come…

Get the latest results here.

Md. Voters Vote in Primary Election - washingtonpost.com
The voting in Montgomery County and other parts of the state was marred by early problems at the polls. Delays angered voters and candidates and prompted judges to extend the voting by one hour — to 9 p.m. — in Montgomery and Baltimore.

Montgomery election officials had failed to distribute to precincts the electronic cards needed to operate computerized voting machines. Election officials scrambled to deliver the cards by late morning, but many voters were told they had to return later or vote on paper ballots that will not be counted until Monday.

The Sun - CNHI Site Group
As expected in Vermont, Rep. Bernie Sanders won the Democratic nomination for Senate. Sanders, who plans to run as an independent, aims to win the seat of retiring Sen. James Jeffords, the Senate’s lone independent.

Five Republicans sought the GOP nomination, with businessman Richard Tarrant leading in early returns.

Rhode Island Primary Blog 2006
Lincoln Chafee has a narrow lead over Stephen Laffey with more than one third of the votes in:

Chafee has 17,346 votes and Laffey has 15,034.

More to come…

All Headline News - Primary Update: Problems In Providence - September 12, 2006
September 12, 2006 8:59 p.m. EST

Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer

Providence, RI (AHN) - As voters go to the polls in nine states across America, problems have been reported in Providence, Rhode Island.

According to reports, disaffiliation forms were in short supply, as an unaffiliated voter in Rhode Island can vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary and then immediately leave the party with by filling out another form.

According to WJAR, an unusually high number of unaffiliated voters was expected to vote in Tuesday’s primary because of a contentious U.S. Senate primary between Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee and challenger Stephen Laffey. The state Board of Elections had poll workers deliver additional disaffiliation forms to various precincts when the first shortages were reported by mid-morning.