Disgruntled US voters take on the establishment

DISENCHANTED voters in both parties turned against the establishment, choosing a conservative “Tea Party” newcomer over a handpicked Republican favourite and dumping veteran Democratic Senator Arlen Specter ahead of November’s midterm elections.

On the biggest day of voting so far, two-term Senator Blanche Lincoln also struggled and was headed to a June 8 run-off election against Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter after failing to win the necessary majority of the Democratic Senate primary vote in Arkansas.

“This is what democracy looks like – a win for the people over the establishment, over the status quo, even over Washington DC,” an exuberant Representative Joe Sestak told supporters in Pennsylvania after beating the 80-year-old Specter.