Think Global, Vote Local

Harvard-educated attorney Artur Davis defeated five-term Democratic Rep. Earl Hilliard in a bitter runoff Tuesday after a campaign in which a poor Alabama district became entangled in Mideast politics.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Davis had 52,054 votes, or 56 percent, and Hilliard had 40,677 votes, or 44 percent.

Hilliard laid blame for his first electoral loss to Davis' bigger war chest, funded in large part by out-of-state, pro-Israel donors.

"My opponent had a massive amount of money," Hilliard said. "I don't know what that means for the future for other persons who are similarly situated."

Davis said voters were swayed by his focus on economic development, health care and education. "The breadth of this victory is something that humbles me," he told cheering supporters.

He led handily in Hilliard's traditional Birmingham power base; he carried populous Tuscaloosa County by a 3-to-1 margin; and he won as well in Dallas County, which Hilliard carried in the primary.

A runoff victory was tantamount to election because there is no Republican nominee.

Arab Americans and groups sympathetic to the Palestinian cause donated thousands to Hilliard, who visited Libya in 1997 and supports what he calls a balanced U.S. policy toward the Mideast.

Upset by Hilliard's perceived links to Arab causes, Jewish donors and pro-Israel groups lined up behind challenger Davis, a former federal prosecutor.

"Earl Hilliard has a record of supporting terrorist states and favors termination of sanctions against countries that support terrorism," said Josh Block of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Arab Americans supported Hilliard in response to the infusion of money from Jewish donors backing Davis, said Jim Zogby, president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute.

"This is not a test of our clout versus their clout," he said. "This is a test of whether we will stand by people who have stood by us."

While Mideastern politics fueled fund-raising in the Hilliard-Davis campaign, such issues are far removed from daily life in the 7th District, a chronically poor part of the state that stretches from inner-city Birmingham over much of rural west-Alabama.

The district is 62 percent black, and Hilliard, 60, is the only black member of the state's congressional delegation. Davis, 34, is also black.

Redistricting placed more white voters into the 7th, and Davis was the apparent benefactor, carrying eight of the district's 12 counties.

Here's a look at other key primary contests nationwide:

-In southwestern Alabama's 1st district, GOP Rep. Sonny Callahan's chief of staff, Jo Bonner, won the Republican nomination to succeed his boss, who is retiring after nine terms. He will face Judy McCain-Belk, who won the Democratic nomination in a district that has had a Republican congressman for four decades. Alabama Democrats also chose State Treasurer Susan Parker to challenge freshman GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions this fall.

- In South Carolina, wealthy former Rep. Mark Sanford easily won the GOP gubernatorial nomination to challenge Hodges. With all precincts reporting, Sanford had 181,984 votes, or 60 percent, and Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler had 121,535, or 40 percent.

Some had cast the Sanford-Peeler battle as a rematch between President Bush and presidential hopeful John McCain: Peeler worked for Bush two years ago and Sanford, a millionaire real estate developer, drew support from the Arizona senator.

Also in South Carolina, Gresham Barrett beat fellow state Rep. Jim Klauber in the Republican race to succeed GOP Rep. Lindsey Graham, who is running for the seat of retiring 99-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond.

-In Utah, voters decided two runoffs in the 1st District, where Republican Rep. Jim Hansen is retiring after 22 years. Former House Speaker Rob Bishop easily beat businessman Kevin Garn - a distant relative of former Sen. Jake Garn. In the Democratic race, advertising executive Dave Thomas beat education consultant Donald Dunn, 52 percent to 48 percent.

In Utah's 2nd District, state lawmaker John Swallow beat venture capitalist Tim Bridgewater 52 percent to 48 percent for the GOP nomination. Swallow faces Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson in November.