It's Wellstone vs. Boschwitz II in Minnesota, as the Democratic incumbent senator and the two-term Republican he unseated six years ago face off in a November rematch.
Elsewhere on a busy primary day Tuesday, voters in New Hampshire chose a former Democratic congressman to challenge Republican Sen. Bob Smith, while Rhode Islanders picked a Democratic representative and the Republican state treasurer to compete for the state's first open Senate seat in two decades.Also at stake in primaries in eight states were two New England governorships and congressional seats in Arizona, Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin.
In Minnesota, Sen. Paul Well-stone got 87 percent of the vote to defeat three rivals, while Rudy Boschwitz beat four Republican challengers by drawing 80 percent.
The Republican National Committee already has run ads featuring photographs of Wellstone mixed with those of criminals. Boschwitz has disavowed responsibility for the ads, but hinted after winning the primary that he would take advantage of being the challenger this time around.
In New Hampshire, which hasn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in two decades, Smith is viewed as vulnerable after drawing heavy criticism for such displays as holding up a plastic fetus and graphic photographs during a speech against partial-birth abortions.
Former Rep. Dick Swett, who defeated businessman John Rauh 53 percent to 47 percent to win the Democratic nomination, wasted no time going on the offensive: "Bob Smith has been in Washington for 12 years and done nary a thing for the state of New Hampshire."
Smith called Swett's statement "ridiculous," and slammed the challenger for going negative so soon.
In Rhode Island, Republican state Treasurer Nancy Mayer and Democratic Rep. Jack Reed easily won their primaries in the race to succeed Democratic Sen. Clai-borne Pell, who is retiring after six terms.
In New Hampshire's gubernatorial race, state Sen. Jeanne Shaheen defeated two rivals for the Democratic nomination by garnering 88 percent of the vote. Ovide Lamontagne, chairman of the state Board of Education, won the five-way GOP race, beating Rep. Bill Zeliff 48 percent to 43 percent. Republican Gov. Steven Merrill decided not to run again after a pair of two-year terms.
In the race to succeed Zeliff in Congress, John E. Sununu, son of former Gov. John Sununu, won an eight-candidate GOP primary. Manchester lawyer and former state party chairman Joe Keefe is the Democratic nominee.
In Vermont, conservative businessman John Gropper won the GOP gubernatorial nomination with 66 percent of the vote to fellow businessman's Tom Morse's 34 percent. Gropper faces Gov. Howard Dean, a popular Democrat whose approval rating hovers at nearly 70 percent.