Hillary Makes History; Other Results

Primaries Across U.S. Offer Several Twists

Dan Bernard, Staff Writer,

MINNEAPOLIS, Posted 4:57 p.m. EDT September 13, 2000 -- Primary elections in nine states on Tuesday brought a handful of surprises and a pair of firsts: A first lady won an election, and Selma, Ala., elected a black mayor.

Hilary Rodham Clinton won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from New York, easily defeating Mark McMahon, an orthopedic surgeon from Manhattan. Clinton moved immediately into a stern general election contest against Long Island Rep. Rick Lazio, the Republican nominee; the two were scheduled to debate in Buffalo, N.Y., on Wednesday night.

"Over the next two months, I will continue to work hard each and every day to earn the opportunity to represent the people of New York in the Senate," Clinton said in a statement.

In other election highlights across the United States:

Selma's New Mayor

In Selma, which came to embody the country's racial strife in the 1960s, voters ousted a reformed segregationist who had held office for 35 years. Businessman James Perkins defeated Joe Smitherman, a white man first elected in 1964 -- a few months before civil rights marchers were met at Edmund Pettus Bridge by troopers with tear gas and clubs in a clash that became known as "Bloody Sunday." (More from the Alabama Mobile-Register)

Vermont's Anti-Gay Backlash

Vermont posed questions for the nation by hosting an apparent backlash against laws granting marriage-like status to same-sex couples.

Vermont legislators this spring passed a law allowing "civil unions" for gay couples. On Tuesday, five Republican legislators who voted for the bill were voted out of office, as was a Democratic legislator who opposed the measure.

"This is probably something that's going to take a generation to resolve," said state House Judiciary Chairman Thomas Little, a Republican who overcame a challenge focused on his authorship of the measure.

Still, Vermont Democrats chose state auditor Ed Flanagan, the nation's only openly gay statewide officeholder, for Senate. He faces GOP Sen. James Jeffords in the fall.

Minnesota Picks Department Store Scion

In Minnesota, Democratic primary voters picked Mark Dayton to oppose Republican U.S. Sen Rod Grams in November. Dayton, great-grandson of the man who founded what became the Dayton's and Target retail chains, spent $5 million in a race that broke state spending records.

Dayton handily beat three rivals, including trial attorney Mike Ciresi, who led the state's multibillion-dollar settlement with the tobacco industry. Dayton saturated the airwaves starting in early summer, far ahead of his opponents, with ads attacking the high price of prescription drugs and proclaiming his support for universal health care. (Click for more from affiliate Web site Channel 4000)

Party-Switcher Loses By A Hair -- Maybe

In a New York stunner, U.S. Rep. Michael Forbes, who won three previous elections as a Republican but ran in the Democratic primary this year, found himself apparently beaten by a 71-year-old former librarian.

The outcome will depend on a recount: Forbes trailed by 39 votes out of the 11,611 cast in unofficial returns.

It would be an astonishing upset: Forbes raised $1.4 million on his primary campaign; Regina Seltzer raised just $40,000.

Forbes left the GOP last year, saying that the party had become too extremist. But Seltzer said his opposition to abortion and votes to impeach President Clinton proved that he was no Democrat.

"This is about the people of this community who have said in no uncertain terms to Mr. Forbes, 'You're fired,'" Seltzer said.

Home Improvement For The Pack

In Wisconsin, a sales tax was approved in Brown County to renovate and expand Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, the only publicly owned team in the NFL. (Click for more from )

Also nominated in their parties' primaries:

In Rhode Island, GOP Sen. Lincoln Chafee, appointed last year to fill out the fourth term of his late father John
Wisconsin's Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl
Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who is simultaneously running for vice president
Democratic Vermont Gov. Howard Dean
New Hampshire's two-term Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen