KASIE HUNT, Associated Press
TOM LOBIANCO, Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Veteran Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar lost a bitter challenge from the right flank of his own Republican Party Tuesday night, his nearly four-decade career in the Senate ended by a tea party-backed GOP foe.
Also Tuesday, North Carolina voters weighed a gay-marriage ban and Democrats were picking a nominee to challenge Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in a June recall election, contests that overshadowed Mitt Romney’s unstoppable progress toward the GOP presidential nomination.
Romney won the GOP presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina and was all but certain of victory in West Virginia, drawing close to the 1,144 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination.