ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug. 28 -- Alaskan voters Tuesday were picking nominees to succeed two-term Gov. Tony Knowles and were considering whether to adopt a statewide instant runoff, which supporters said would help third-party candidates.
In early returns, voters were saying "no" to preferential voting that would replace the state's majority vote election.
With 52 percent of the precincts counted, 64 percent rejected Ballot Measure 1.
In the race for governor, Fran Ulmer and Frank Murkowski both had comfortable leads for the Democratic and Republican nominations respectively.
They are fighting to succeed Knowles, a Democrat, who is barred by term limits from a third term. Ulmer is trying to become Alaska's first female governor.
In the five-way Republican race for the lieutenant governor nomination, Loren Leman held a slim lead over Sarah Palin, 28.9 percent to 28.5 percent. Robin Taylor, 22.1 percent and Gail Phillips, 18.2 percent were trailing.
Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young also both took early leads and were heavy favorites to win the Republican nominations to keep their seats. Neither faces a strong challenger in November.
Incumbent Rep. Lisa Murkowski was losing her race for the Republican nomination from Anchorage House District 18 to Nancy Dahlstrom. With four of five precincts counted, Dahlstrom was in front with 56 percent of the vote. |end| Content: 11003000 11006000
