Tues Primaries: Wyoming/Alaska (AK Senate race called for Sullivan 5 AM-g'night)

In Wyoming, Rep. Senator Mike Enzi will easily walk through both his primary today and the general election in November. (You may recall, this is the race that Liz Cheney dropped out of quite some time ago.)

The state has only one seat in the House , and incumbent Congressman Cynthia Lummis will do the same as Enzi, easily win her primary and be reelected in November.

Republican Gov. Matt Mead expected to roll against one opponent tonight and then again in November.

Moving on to Alaska, Republicans got great news on two different days last week, leading up to the 3-man (technically 4, as a minor candidate is on the ballot) race for the Senate nomination among Dan Sullivan, Mead Treadwell and Tea Party candidate Joe Miller. Latest polls show Sullivan as the favorite, Treadwell running second, and Miller third. However, most state media this past week have stories saying Miller, who has recent endorsements from Palin and Huckabee, is closing the gap, though none are predicting he can come from so far back to win.

So what is the good news I mentioned above?

Miller had been hinting all along that if he does not win the nomination today, he would consider mounting a write-in campaign for November, the same thing that Lisa Murkowski successfully did to him in 2010. On Tuesday of last week, he announced he would end his run for the office if he loses today, thus not draining any votes from the Sullivan/Treadwell winner in November. In a tight race, as is expected, that could be extremely significant.

Then, two days later, in the final debate with his two major opponents, Miller pulled another pleasant surprise, by unexpectedly announcing that he will actively support the Sullivan/Treadwell winner in the campaign against incumbent Democrat Mark Begich. This was unexpected, and will help get the Palin people out to vote Republican in November , rather than stay home in protest.

The Alaska seat could be the pivotal one for control of the Senate, and the apparent determination by all 3 candidates to present a unified front after a bitterly-fought campaign is an excellent approach to taking the seat.

Republican Gov. Sean Parnell is expected to easily win his primary and and then defeat 4 other candidates handily in November.

Like Wyoming, Alaska has only one seat in the U.S. House. Incumbent Republican Don Young looks like he will coast to another term, after 39 and 35 point margins of victory in his last two elections.

One very important thing to watch for in Alaska is turnout. While most important state referendum questions appear on November ballots in all states, including Alaska, there is a VERY important and controversial question on today's ballots (concerning state law on taxing oil companies) that may well significantly increase turnout. The individual who would be most likely hurt by a larger-than-usual turnout would be Miller.

As usual, I will update results throughout the night, even though past primary threads have not drawn much interest this year.