Carter’s son wins Nevada primary

RENO, Nev. – Jimmy Carter’s son, Jack Carter, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday to face Republican U.S. Sen. John Ensign in November in Nevada, where voters also picked candidates in a sometimes-zany pair of primaries to replace popular Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Carter claimed 80 percent of the vote in early returns to defeat political unknown Ruby Jee Tun of Carson City, a middle school science teacher. Ensign won with more than 90 percent of the vote over Ed “Fast Eddie” Hamilton of Las Vegas, a former Chrysler Corp. supervisor.

Guinn, who is leaving office after eight years because of term limits, did not groom a hand-picked successor, locking candidates from both parties in brutal primary contests.

Democratic state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus and Republican Congressman Jim Gibbons each won their party’s nominations to replace Guinn.

Gibbons, a former military pilot, gave one of his GOP rivals some ammunition when he told a newspaper that he used his state Assembly office to get rehired by Delta Air Lines. (Gibbons says he misspoke.)

Gibbons managed to hold off Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and state Sen. Bob Beers. Long shots in that race included a former porn star, Melody Damayo, who performed under the name Mimi Miyagi.

On the Democratic ballot, state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus beat Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson.

Titus accused Gibson of latent Republicanism and created a Web site that included a close-up of an elephant’s behind. Gibson responded by sending out a Web cartoon of his opponent wielding a “Star Wars”-style light saber and succumbing to the pull of the Dark Side.