Last night was another big primary night leading up to the big 2010 midterm elections. The primary election can often be more important than the general election. Each party has a chance to increase its chances of success by nominating the right candidate, or in contrast giving away a sure win by nominating the wrong candidate. For example, Republicans were thought to have a great chance at taking the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Majority Leader Reid in Nevada until they nominated controversial candidate Sharon Angle. Now most polls (seen below) have Reid with a slight lead.

Here is a basic breakdown of the major primary results from last night.

Alaska

This was the big "shocker" among political analysts. Incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was thought to be a "sure thing" to gain the Republican nomination last night, but instead the much lesser-known conservative Joe Miller currently leads by about 3,000 votes. With 84.2% of precincts reporting, Miller has 45,188 votes and Murkowski has 42,633. Given the rural, vast nature of the state it often takes longer to get the vote counts. The final results are not expected to be known for a week, and it could be longer if absentee ballots end up deciding the race.

The fact that the race is even close is a huge surprise. The only thing Miller really had going for him was an endorsement from former half-term Governor Sarah Palin. Perhaps it should surprise no one that Palin still holds a lot of sway among Republicans in the state. Miller's upset, or near upset, adds to the supposed theme of an anti-incumbent mood in the 2010 midterms.

Arizona

Overall, however, incumbents continue to hold onto their party's nomination. Such was the case in Arizona where Senator John McCain managed to stave off a challenge from ultra-conservative J.D. Hayworth. McCain saw the Hayworth challenge coming early on and immediately took the offensive, calling Hayworth an extremist. In addition, McCain shifted many of his political ideologies significantly to the right. Where McCain previously sponsored a relatively moderate immigration reform proposal that included amnesty, he now purports to oppose all amnesty and ran commercials to "build the dang wall" along the Mexico-United States border.

McCain's strategy appears to have worked for the time being as he leads Hayworth by over 20 points with most of the precincts reporting. The Associated Press has already called the race for McCain.

Another notable result from Arizona was a win for Ben Quayle, the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle. Quayle ran a campaign from the right, calling President Obama the worst president in history. However, Quayle was dogged by revelations that he helped to drive Web traffic to a porn site. Despite the embarrassing story, Quayle managed to win the nomination with 23% of the vote. Quayle's closest competitor had 18% of the vote.

Florida

Florida had two big results last night. Each party had to decide who to nominate in a race for the U.S. Senate seat in Florida and the governorship. 

In the Senate race, the Republican nomination was already decided as Governor Charlie Crist had already conceded the nomination to conservative Marco Rubio. However, Crist has announced his intention to run as an independent, which causes this race to become something of a wild card. The Democrats nominated U.S. Representative Edward Meek over billionaire Jeff Greene. Greene spent a significant amount of money in the race, but ultimately lost by over 20 points. The most recent results have Meek with 57.4% of the vote and Greene with 31.1%. Greene has conceded the race and in doing so helped Meek by calling him the only "true Democrat" in the race now. The big threat for Democrats is that Crist, as a moderate, will steal votes from Meek in the race. Most polls (seen below) have Meek trailing both Rubio and Crist by double digits. 

In the governor's race, health care executive Rick Scott won the Republican nomination over State Attorney General Bill McCollum. Scott gained 46.4% of the vote compared to McCollum's 43.4%. Scott was considered to be the more conservative candidate of the two, having made a name for himself by forcefully opposing the efforts to pass federal health care reform. The Republican primary race became very heated, and McCollum actually criticized Scott for the tone in his eventual concession last night. Scott spent more than $39 million of his own funds, much of which went into television ads slamming McCollum. Scott will now likely spend even more money in the general election, where he will face off with Democrat Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer.