Greg Giroux from Congressional Quarterly wrote up a great primary day primer on Political Wire. I’m running around like a mad-man today, so in the interest of time, I tip my hat to the good people over at Political Wire and encourage everyone to check out their great analysis. DoubleSpeak will have election night coverage later this evening and into tomorrow morning. Stay tuned.

Primary Preview

Most of the remaining November matchups for governor, senator and U.S. House will be set Tuesday, when nine states will hold primary elections: Arizona, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

The marquee matchup is the Republican Senate primary in Rhode Island, where Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who frequently bucks GOP leaders, faces a stiff challenge from Cranston mayor Steve Laffey, who is more conservative. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is backing Chafee on the grounds that he is the only Republican who could possibly prevail this year in Rhode Island, which usually votes Democratic. Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, a former Rhode Island Attorney General, is expected to easily win his party’s primary.

The other major Senate primary Tuesday is in Maryland, where Democrats have a large field of candidates in the race to succeed retiring five-term Democrat Paul S. Sarbanes. Rep. Ben Cardin and former Rep. Kweisi Mfume are the best-known Democrats, while Republicans are behind Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. In the contest for governor, Republican incumbent Bob Ehrlich and Democrat Martin O’Malley, the mayor of Baltimore, are unopposed in the primaries. In Cardin’s Democratic-leaning 3rd District, the crowded Democratic field includes state Sen. Paula Hollinger, former Baltimore health commissioner Peter Beilenson and lawyer John Sarbanes, who is the retiring senator’s son. In the 4th District, which is anchored in inner suburbs of Washington, D.C., Democratic Rep. Albert Wynn faces a primary challenge from lawyer Donna Edwards.

Read the rest here…

U.S. Senator John McCain will return to New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary on April 7th and 8th, 2006.

McCain will try to make friends among the Republican state Senate majority by keynoting a fundraiser for its PAC at the Courtyard Marriott in Concord on Friday night April 7.

The next day, he will attend a fundraiser in Peterborough for state Sen. Peter Bragdon, R-Milford, hold a town hall meeting in Keene and sign copies of “Character is Destiny,” his latest book, in Hanover.

As you may recall, McCain defeated George W. Bush during the New Hampshire primary in 2000. Shortly thereafter, McCain lost the South Carolina primary to Bush after he attacked his veteran status (sound familiar) and used dirty push-polling to derail his candidacy.

McCain will have to really sell himself if he wants another shot at the nomination in 2008. There is no doubt that New Hampshire voters have liked his politics and his campaigning style (they often times go for the outsider or the ‘rebel’ candidate). However, New Hampshire will be a test for McCain and it will be a test that he, as well as any other ’08 contender cannot afford to fail.