Veteran Sen. John McCain sailed to the GOP nomination Tuesday in Arizona over a challenger with tea party support, while political novice Rick Scott pushed past an experienced insider to win Florida's Republican gubernatorial primary as voters split on the merits of establishment candidates vs. outsiders.
In other big-name races, Rep. Kendrick Meek prevailed for Florida's Senate Democratic nomination over upstart Jeff Greene, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska counted on voters to reward political experience as she faced a spirited Republican primary challenge 10 weeks before the general election.
Nominating contests in five states -- Vermont also was voting, and Oklahoma held GOP runoffs -- highlighted dominant themes of this unpredictable election year, including anti-establishment anger and tea party challenges from the right. But the early results indicated that if there was a single pattern to the night, it was the lack of one.
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