Incumbents win in three states despite disgust with status quo

May 5, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

Voters in Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio kept their incumbents and voted for an old Capitol Hill hand — Republican Dan Coats — in Tuesday’s primaries despite the nation’s bottom-barrel support for Congress and frustration with the Washington establishment.

In Indiana this fall, Coats — who was recruited by the National Republican Senatorial Committee — will face Democrat Brad Ellsworth, whose nomination is assured. The candidates are seeking the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh.

Coats, 66, who retired from the Senate in 1998, has worked as a lobbyist and was U.S. ambassador to Germany under President George W. Bush. He overcame spirited challenges from four, including state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, a tea-party favorite who was endorsed by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, and former Rep. John Hostettler, who had the support of one-time presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas.

Democrats quickly piled on, calling Coats a “deeply flawed candidate” and casting him as a Washington insider.

Turnout was exceptionally light in Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina, a possible indication that the anger fueling voters across the country over economic woes, persistently high unemployment and Congress itself wasn’t translating into votes — and, perhaps, the limited influence of the conservatives and libertarians who make up the tea-party coalition.

“We rebuilt the pyramids and recarved the Grand Canyon in our spare time,” joked poll worker Dina Roberts, who saw only 147 voters in nearly 12 hours at her downtown Indianapolis polling site.

In all three states, candidates backed by Democratic and Republican leaders in Washington squared off against challengers drawing their support from elsewhere.

At the very least, the outcome of Tuesday’s primaries — the first set of contests in the two months since Texas held its February primary — set the stage for November’s congressional matchups and provided early insights about voter attitudes ahead of this fall’s elections.

In Ohio, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, a former Ohio attorney general backed by Democrats in Washington, withstood a challenge from Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to capture the party’s Senate nomination. The two ran to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. George Voinovich. Fisher will face former Rep. Rob Portman, the budget director and trade representative under George W. Bush.

In North Carolina, first-term Republican Sen. Richard Burr, whose public approval numbers are lower than expected, easily won his party’s nomination. Democrats won’t decide his general election opponent until a June 22 runoff as none of the six candidates achieved the 40 percent of the vote necessary to win outright.