California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) first ballot didn't count in Tuesday's primary election, the Associated Press reports.

The scanning machine at his Los Angeles polling place rejected the ballot because he selected two Senate candidates instead of one, according to reports.

No word on which two candidates he voted for, but former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, former Rep. Tom Campbell, and state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore have been running a tough campaign.

Poll worker Keta Hodgson told the AP the governor was given the choice of filling out a new ballot or not having his Senate pick count. He cast a new ballot.

There's also a competitve GOP primary for Schwarznegger's job. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner have sunk up to $100 million total into the race. 

Polls close at 11 p.m. EST.

And Schwarzenegger isn't the first politician to have trouble voting.

When Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) tried to vote for herself in the May 18 Democratic primary it turns out she had already voted. She and her husband had requested absentee ballots in case she was called to Washington for Senate business. They cast provisional ballots to make sure their votes counted.

That won't be a problem for Lincoln in today's runoff. She will vote "in person" at her polling place in Little Rock with a traditional ballot, according to a spokeswoman for her campaign.

She faces Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D). Polls close at 8:30 p.m. EST.

Cross-posted to the Briefing Room 

Twelve states are voting Tuesday — here's a quick cheat sheet for when polls close and what races to watch:

7 p.m. EST: The first round of polls closes, with races being decided in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

Georgia will decide which Republican it will send to Congress in the special election to replace Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), who has resigned to run for governor. Former state Rep. Tom Graves and state Sen. Lee Hawkins advanced to Tuesday's runoff after last month's election failed to produce a majority-candidate. It's no surprise Republicans will hold on to this district, one of the most conservative in the country.

In South Carolina, all eyes will be on the governor's race, where state Rep. Nikki Haley is fighting for the Republican nomination. She's the favorite in the race and has the support of both Sarah Palin and Jenny Sanford, but a few weeks ago a conservative blogger alleged he had an extramarital affair with Haley — a charge she denied. A Public Policy poll released Monday had her leading her nearest GOP competitor by 20 points.

In Virginia, Republicans will be waiting to see who wins the nomination to face freshman Rep. Glenn Nye (D-Va.), who is a top GOP target. Scott Rigell is the party favorite but he's been under attack by the Tea Party. It'll be interesting to see if this primary goes the way of GOP primaries in Idaho and Kentucky, where the Republican Party favorite lost to a Tea Party candidate in both races. And seven candidates are vying for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello, another leading GOP target.

8 p.m. EST: Maine and New Jersey

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday he would be "highly surprised" if his union federation's state chapter supported Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) if she won her runoff against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D).

The labor movement has invested millions in defeating Lincoln by canvassing the state and running television ads.

Lincoln has ended up on the wrong side of unions — traditional Democratic allies — for her opposition to legislation that would make union organizing much easier, as well as being against a government-run health insurance program. 



Trumka said the decision to endorse Lincoln, if she emerged victorious on Tuesday, would be up to AFL-CIO members in Arkansas. "That is a decision that our members on the ground make. I would feel highly surprised if they were to do that," Trumka said.

While the AFL-CIO has not committed to not supporting Lincoln if she did win Tuesday, at least one powerful labor group has pledged not to help her in the fall.

The Service Employees International Union, another Halter supporter, has said that they would not endorse Lincoln if she was the Democrats' general election candidate.



The union leader also said he thought Halter would prevail Tuesday in his challenge against Lincoln.
"I think Halter wins tonight and I think he ultimately goes on and wins in the fall. If I didn't believe that, we would probably have not been in the race," Trumka said.

The 2010 midterm elections aren't finished but both parties are planning for the 2012 presidential election.

The biggest issue on table: the calendar of primaries and caucuses that decide the party's nominee.

New Hampshire will retain its first-in-the-nation primary status while other states will hold their contests in an "orderly timetable" throughout the beginning of the year, according to plans from both parties.

This must-read piece in the Boston Globe looks ahead two years to the White House race and how the parties will persuade states to follow their calendar recommendations.

From the article:

Officials from both parties have separate proposals that would ban states from holding their vote before the first Tuesday of March, with four exemptions: the Granite State; Iowa, which holds the first caucuses; South Carolina; and Nevada. And no state can hold a contest before Feb. 1.

Implicit in the plans is the parties’ determination to infuse more discipline into the scheduling. …

[As an incentive to get the states to comply] the Democrats are dangling the prospect of extra delegates; Republicans are discussing allowing winner-take-all contests in later states instead of proportional allotment of delegates. A winner-take-all allotment makes a state’s haul more valuable to candidates.

The early planning is a reaction to the 2008 race, where states jockeyed to move up their primary dates in order to have more influence in the presidential nominating process. New Hamsphire cast ballots on Jan. 8th, its earliest contest ever, in order to keep its first-in-the-nation primary status. The Iowa caucuses took place Jan. 3rd. 

Several states lost delegates because they moved up their primary dates.

Both parties have set their dates for the 2012 conventions: Republicans will hold theirs August 27-30, 2012, in Tampa. Democrats will hold theirs from Sept. 3-6, 2012, but are still deciding what city to pick.

The Hill's Kris Kitto offers career advice to congressional staffers every week in his column, A Second Opinion. As campaign season heats up, this question is likely to be asked in more than a few offices on Capitol Hill.

Dear A.S.O,



I’ve been asked to "volunteer" for my boss’s campaign "in my free time." I already spend enough of my life at work, but feel obligated to say yes. But then that strikes me as being against some ethics rule. What can I do?

Anonymous
Read more...

Here's a video our HillTube team put together to preview three of Tuesday's most closely watched races. During its production, we noted Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) was expected to pull out a victory over Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D), but that looks increasingly unlikely given the momentum the challenger built up ahead of the runoff vote. 

Two months ago last week, Delaware Senate candidate Chris Coons (D) spoke to the Senate Democratic Conference during its weekly lunch.

“I gave about a 10-minute speech, got a standing ovation,” Coons told The Ballot Box.

Appreciation wasn't the only thing he took away from the meeting.

"I've so far received about $140,000 [in campaign contributions] from 30 sitting senators, which is a pretty substantial response," Coons said. "And a number of them have committed to hosting events for me."

To Coons's surprise, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was one of the senators who offered to host a fundraiser. "He called and he offered," Coons said. "We've got a date and a place and everything."

Coons said he couldn't go into the details until Reid's office made the official announcement. But he sounded upbeat about their growing friendship. "He and I have developed a really great relationship. I've been very pleasantly surprised," he said. "I didn't know him before this.

"And we have these fairly long personal talks and he's a very straight-up, engaging guy who's very concerned about my family. We talked about values, about 'How do you manage it?' and balancing things."

Coons didn’t expect to find the majority leader so personable, he said. "He's a very gentle, gracious person."

Several people told Coons that Reid has been talking him up during fundraising events for his own reelection campaign.

"I've been very pleasantly surprised to hear that from folks in New York and Chicago, as well as here several times," Coons said. "He's taken a real personal interest in the race."

Coons, the New Castle County executive, is expected to face Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) in the general election. He's been trailing in some recent polls but says his campaign operation is gearing up thanks to some help from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).

Coming off a "cold start," Coons said the DSCC lent him staff to get his campaign up and running.

Still, he maintains he's managing his own race.

"They’re very clear about, 'This is your race to win, we're here as a resource, we want to help you with strategic advice,' " Coons said. "But they are not telling me how to run or what positions to take."

From Vice President Joe Biden — Delaware's most famous Democrat — Coons said he'd received a "general offer of support and encouragement."

Reid's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) will make sure she gets at least one vote Tuesday when she casts her ballot in Little Rock, the Tea Party vote may splinter in Nevada and Illinois Senate candidate Mark Kirk continues to lose friends and alienate people.

Will the unity rally get canceled?

Twelve states vote Tuesday, but attention will be focused on Arkansas, where the Senate runoff between Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D) will be settled.

To avoid any confusion, Lincoln will vote "in person" at her polling place in Little Rock with a traditional ballot, according to a spokeswoman for her campaign.

Her vote may be one of the few she gets from a female Arkansan, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Arkansas Democrat Nancy Baker tells the paper: Lincoln "has forgotten the Democratic party. We refer to her as the plantation princess. She's gone completely to the right."

Lincoln's centrist credentials may help her in a general election against Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark.). But she's first going to have to defeat Halter, champion of the fired-up progressive wing of her party. And that victory may sap the energy of the Arkansas Democratic Party.

And then there were two

Sources tell the Ballot Box that Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle is all but assured of capturing an Election Day victory Tuesday. But in order for her to secure the nomination, she'll need to run up big margins in rural Nevada, home to much of her Tea Party base. If she can do that, it will offset the vote totals that former state Sen. Sue Lowden (R) and Las Vegas businessman Danny Tarkanian (R) will rack up in Clark County.

But late Monday the Tea Party Nation, a national umbrella group for the movement, sent an e-mail to supporters saying that Angle was "not the only conservative" in the race.

The group said Tarkanian "is every bit a conservative and constitutional patriot." If Tarkanian can siphon Tea Party votes from Angle, it may give Lowden a path to victory.

Enviros give Kirk the red light

The Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters are expected to announce Tuesday they've decided to endorse Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in the Illinois Senate race.

Environmental groups passing over a Republican to endorse a Democrat isn't typically big news, but this is significant because both groups have in the past endorsed Kirk. The issue this time: cap-and-trade.

Kirk voted for the House cap-and-trade bill last June, but has since moved away from supporting the legislation. "We can no longer depend on how he is going to vote," Tony Massaro, a spokesman for the League of Conservation Voters, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

For Reps. Mark Critz and Charles Djou, the Washington axiom of a “permanent campaign” has never been more apt.