One for the establishment: Ayotte wins N.H. GOP nod

Former New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte was certified the winner of the Republican Senate primary by state election officials on Wednesday to the relief of party officials in Washington still coming to grips with the defeat of their preferred candidate in a separate race in Delaware.

Ayotte defeated Ovide Lamontagne by 1,667 votes in a multi-candidate field, according to a tally released by the New Hampshire secretary of state, and will take on Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes in the general election. She enjoyed the support of party officials as well as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and overcame her rival's claim that he was the real conservative in the race.

By contrast, primary winner Christine O'Donnell defeated Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware Tuesday night despite being repeatedly assailed by GOP officials as unelectable.

"There are a lot of people who are rallying behind me who are frustrated that the Republican Party has lost its way," said O'Donnell, who won the Delaware nomination with the support of Palin and tea party activists and now enters the fall campaign as an underdog to Democrat Chris Coons.

Republican officials had said while the votes were being counted Tuesday night that the party would not step in to fund her campaign, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee initially greeted her victory with a brief statement issued in the name of an aide rather than the customary praise from Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas who heads the group.

But in a statement released at midday, Cornyn said he had offered O'Donnell his personal congratulations and the organization would send her campaign a check for $42,000, the maximum it is allowed under the law for expenses that may be officially coordinated with the candidates.

Cornyn was vague on whether the party committee would also launch the type of independent effort that is already under way in Kentucky and is reserved for the most competitive races. Such efforts can run into millions of dollars in races in states where the cost of television advertising is high.