Barrow and Broun breeze to primary wins

Reps. John Barrow (D) and Paul Broun (R) sailed to re-nomination in Georgia’s primary Tuesday, despite some indications that they could have faced close races.

With 96 percent of precincts in Wednesday afternoon, Barrow led state Sen. Regina Thomas 76-24, while Broun led state Rep. Barry Fleming 71-29.

{mosads}Barrow appeared vulnerable to a primary challenge from an African-American candidate like Thomas, given a heavily black Democratic primary electorate. The race moved to the national radar when Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) took the unexpected step of endorsing Barrow last month.

Broun is a year removed from a special-election victory in which he relied heavily on Democratic and independent votes against a Republican opponent. Many of those voters could not cast ballots in the GOP primary, but Broun still coasted against a challenger who raised around $1 million.

In other races, DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones and attorney Jim Martin are headed for a runoff in the Democratic Senate primary. Jones led Martin 40-34, and former television reporter Dale Cardwell was third at 16 percent.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday that Cardwell has thrown his support to Martin, the favorite of national Democrats.

The winner of the Aug. 5 runoff will face Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) in a lower-tier Senate race.
Barrow will face former Republican congressional aide John Stone in the general election. The race has been a top GOP target in recent cycles.

Stone led two other Republicans with 57 percent of the vote, but he will likely have to increase his fundraising to give Barrow a tough race. He raised just $70,000 in the second quarter and had just $8,000 in cash on hand, as of June 30.

Like Barrow and Broun, Democratic Reps. John Lewis, David Scott and Jim Marshall also easily defeated primary challengers.

Marshall will face retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Rick Goddard, who was unopposed in his GOP primary, in a top general-election race.