Anti-incumbent trend affects primary races

Establishment candidates struggled in four state primaries late Tuesday as anti-incumbent fever threatened to claim more political victims.

In Colorado, Dist. Atty. Ken Buck, running as an insurgent, defeated former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton to win the Republican senatorial nomination. National Republican leaders had considered Norton their best chance to claim the now-Democratic seat.

Buck will face Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, who beat back a primary challenge from a former statehouse leader who ran as an outsider. Bennet was appointed in 2009 to fill the seat formerly held by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

In the gubernatorial race, small-business owner Dan Maes was in a virtual tie with former Rep. Scott McInnis, who was favored by the GOP establishment. Maes has backing from the “tea party” movement, but no political experience.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, running unopposed, won the Democratic nomination for governor after the unpopular incumbent, Bill Ritter, dropped out.

“Colorado is being affected by this sense, in both parties, that the establishment has disqualified itself,” veteran pollster Floyd Ciruli said.

Already this year, two incumbent U.S. senators and four members of the House have lost their seats in primaries — a highly unusual outcome that analysts believe is linked to the dismal state of the economy.

But Colorado is experiencing political chaos unusual even for tumultuous years like this one.

Former GOP Rep. Tom Tancredo, best known for his hard-line stance against illegal immigration, is vowing to run for governor as a third-party candidate. Tancredo calls Maes and McInnis flawed candidates who cannot win in November. But Republican officials contend Tancredo would split the conservative vote and guarantee a Hickenlooper win.

GOP leaders had tried to clear the primary field for McInnis, whose reputation took a blow last month after revelations that a foundation had paid him $300,000 to write reports on water issues that, it turned out, were plagiarized. He has apologized and blamed a contractor. He has also denied rumors that, if he wins the nomination, he will drop out and allow the party to replace him with an untainted candidate.

As for Maes, in the primary’s closing days he drew ridicule for calling Hickenlooper’s municipal bike-sharing policies part of a slippery slope toward United Nations control. He also was fined $17,500 for campaign finance violations for reimbursing himself $40,000 for mileage. In early returns Tuesday night, he led McInnis by a few hundred votes.

In Georgia, the Republican gubernatorial primary provided an early test of the GOP 2012 presidential race. Onetime Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin backed former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, while two potential rivals — ex- Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich — endorsed former congressman Nathan Deal.

Deal held a narrow lead late Tuesday.

In Connecticut, former World Wrestling Federation executive and political novice Linda McMahon triumphed in the GOP senatorial primary over two challengers. Come November, she will face Democratic state Atty. Gen. Ralph Blumenthal, who ran unopposed.

And in Minnesota, the Associated Press reported that former Sen. Mark Dayton had defeated statehouse Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, the establishment-backed candidate, for the Democratic gubernatorisal nomination. State Rep. Tom Emmer easily won the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com