DAVID ESPO |

WASHINGTON — Linda McMahon of Connecticut, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, easily won the Republican Senate nomination Tuesday night, joining the nationwide roster of political outsiders who will carry the GOP banner into the fall campaign. In Colorado, appointed Sen. Michael Bennet built a solid lead over his Democratic primary challenger.

On a four-state primary night, former Rep. Nathan Deal led ex-Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel narrowly in late returns in a Republican gubernatorial runoff. The two vied for the right to take on former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes in November.

And in Minnesota, conservative State Rep. Tom Emmer easily won the Republican nomination for governor. Four Democrats sought the opposing spot on the ballot.

McMahon, who has vowed to spend as much as $50 million in personal funds in her campaign, will be the underdog in the fall in a race with Democratic Attorney General Blumenthal to replace retiring Sen. Chris Dodd, also a Democrat. The two rivals could not be less alike – he the longtime statewide office holder and she the political neophyte whose rise is part of a nationwide political trend that favors outsiders. Among her primary victims was former Rep. Rob Simmons, who began the primary campaign as the favorite and fell so far behind that he suspended his candidacy earlier in the year.

Simmons rejoined the race in recent weeks as attacks focused on the sometimes raunchy scenes that are part of WWE's appeal, but McMahon was gaining nearly 49 percent of the vote in a three-way race, with returns counted from nearly 60 percent of the state's precincts.

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