by Karl Kurtz
Before the Indiana primary election on Tuesday, there were complaints that news about the hotly contested Democratic primary race for governor (narrowly won by U.S. Rep. Jill Long Thompson) was swallowed up by the hoopla over the Clinton-Obama battle. Imagine trying to find out what happened in the state legislative primary elections in Indiana and North Carolina held on the same day as the presidential primaries.
After two days of searching I found a report in the blog, taking down words, that Rep. John Ulmer (R) was the only incumbent legislator who lost in Indiana. [May 9 update: Rep. Greg Simms was also defeated in the primary.] Four Republican senators (including NCSL stalwart Beverly Gard) who had unusual primary challenges based on their roles in property tax legislation won easily.
In North Carolina four incumbent House members were defeated: Democrats Mary McAllister and Drew Saunders and Republicans Joe Boylan and Karen Ray.
Footnote to the Indiana election: we wrote last week about the Supreme Court decision in which three of the six judges in the majority said that the reason they voted not to overturn Indiana's voter photo ID law was that there was no evidence that anyone had been denied the right to vote by not having a valid ID. Yesterday, the AP reported that 12 nuns, all in their 80's and 90's, some with expired passports and none of whom drive, were turned away from the election boot for lack of a valid photo ID. Would a case like that change the Court's decision?
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