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Osborne loses Nebraska primary

Rep. Tom Osborne , R-Neb., autographs the arm of Jennifer Morales on a Lincoln, Neb., street on Tuesday. The congressman lost to Gov. Dave Heineman in a Republican primary for governor. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Larry Sullivan Associated Press
Rep. Tom Osborne , R-Neb., autographs the arm of Jennifer Morales on a Lincoln, Neb., street on Tuesday. The congressman lost to Gov. Dave Heineman in a Republican primary for governor. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

OMAHA, Neb. – Football coach-turned-congressman Tom Osborne tried – and failed – to take down Gov. Dave Heineman on Tuesday in the Republican primary for governor of this football-crazy state.

In Nebraska, with 86 percent of the precincts reporting, Heineman received 50 percent of the vote to Osborne’s 44.

“This is a tough one to take,” Osborne told his supporters.

In the nation’s only other primary Tuesday, Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia handily won the Democratic race and will face businessman John Raese, who beat out five other Republicans. The 88-year-old Byrd, an outspoken Iraq war critic seeking a record ninth term, is a major target of the GOP this year.

Byrd easily defeated the token opposition – from musician and political novice Bill Hendricks Jr. – he faced on the Democratic side. The GOP field included Raese, a multimillionaire industrialist and media owner, and National Guard Capt. Hiram Lewis.

In New Jersey, a 37-year-old former Rhodes scholar became Newark’s first new mayor in two decades. Cory Booker tromped state Sen. Ronald L. Rice in the nonpartisan race to lead the struggling city of 280,000.

Seventy-year-old Mayor Sharpe James announced in March that he would not seek a sixth term.

Booker collected 72 percent of the vote to Rice’s 23 percent.

Osborne was initially considered a strong favorite because of his three national championships at the University of Nebraska. In his three congressional races, Osborne never received less than 82 percent of the vote.

But recent polls showed Osborne and Heineman virtually tied and Omaha businessman Dave Nabity in single digits.

Osborne decided not to seek a fourth term in Congress to campaign for the gubernatorial nomination.

Heineman was state treasurer when he was appointed lieutenant governor by Gov. Mike Johanns in 2001 and became governor in 2005 when Johanns was picked as U.S. agriculture secretary.

Another race of note in Nebraska included the GOP primary for U.S. Senate.

In the Senate primary, Pete Ricketts, former chief operating officer of online brokerage Ameritrade, spent $4.75 million of his own money and defeated former Attorney General Don Stenberg and Omaha lawyer David Kramer.

The winner will face Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, who is seeking a second term.