True North

Perhaps the most surprising result is the closeness of the result in the Alaska Republican Senate primary. Joe Miller holds a 3,000 vote lead over incumbent Lisa Murkowski. According to Politico, 16,000 absentee ballots have yet to be counted. Miller was substantially outspent by Murkowski; he had the endorsement of Sarah Palin and the support of Alaska tea party activists going for him. Exit questions on this race: Who is the Democratic senatorial nominee? Does it matter? Let's hope not.

Republicans nominated Rick Scott over Bill McCollum as their gubernatorial candidate in Florida. Scott is a problematic candidate whose bottomless personal resources ultimately carried the day in the primary. The Miami Herald credits Scott with pulling off a "one-man political revolution" last night, given the weight of the forces of the Republican establishment that he overcame.

The sense that the midterms could bring a realignment to both chambers of Congress continues to grow.  Both CQ Politics and the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza see more Senate races moving into competitive positions, and almost all of them at the expense of Democrats.  Even the one race that Cillizza sees as potential good news for Democrats is based on a poll that has serious flaws in its methodology.

First, the more conservative take from CQ:

It’s hit that point in the election cycle where the competitive nature of Congressional races are shifting rapidly. Unfortunately for Democrats, the overwhelming majority of those shifts are in favor of Republicans.