| 10 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago Democrat looks for Congressional upset in MS
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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A Democrat in deeply conservative
Mississippi was vying for a congressional seat Tuesday in a race
Republicans have tried to cast as a referendum on Barack Obama and
the national Democratic Party.
Mississippi voters cast ballots in a special election runoff to
decide who serves the final months of a seat vacated by Roger
Wicker, a Republican appointed to the U.S. Senate when Trent Lott
resigned. A win would allow Democrats to add to their 235-199
majority in Congress - if only for a few months until November's
general elections.
With 69 percent of the precincts reporting, early returns show
Demcorat Travis Childers with a narrow lead of 52 percent to
Republican Greg Davis' 48 percent.
Elsewhere, Nebraska voters were deciding who would compete to
replace retiring Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, while a
scandal-clouded state Supreme Court election took center stage in
West Virginia.
Childers took on Davis for a Mississippi seat that has been held
by the GOP since 1994. Both will run against two other candidates
in the Nov. 4 general election for the full term, so the winner
will likely gain name recognition and a fundraising edge.
Childers is a socially conservative county official, while Davis
is mayor of a fast-growing city across the state line from Memphis.
The race has attracted
national attention, with Vice President
Dick Cheney campaigning for Davis on Monday, and Davis running ads
trying to tie Childers to Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Childers has brushed aside those comparisons, countering that
with his own support of gun rights and opposition to abortion, his
social values match those of most voters in the deeply conservative
district.
Childers and Davis advanced to Tuesday's runoff by grabbing the
top two spots in a six-person special election April 22.
In right-leaning Nebraska, Republican Mike Johanns, the former
U.S. agriculture secretary and Nebraska governor, has enjoyed a
wide fundraising and name-recognition edge on his opponent.
Johanns, who has raised more than $2 million, takes Hagel's open
support into the contest against businessman Pat Flynn.
Among the four Democrats seeking to advance to November, Tony
Raimondo and Scott Kleeb are considered the most formidable
contenders.
