Rhode Island Republican Stephen Laffey, the mayor of Cranston, lost his Senate bid to moderate Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee yesterday, inspiring this woeful campaign pic. If you’ll remember, Laffey was critized in the days before the primary for anti-gay writings he had published in a Bowdoin College paper in the 80’s, writings Laffey described as “sophomoric political satire.” Among them, this gem:

“I have never once seen a happy homosexual. This is not to say there aren’t any; I simply haven’t seen one in my lifetime. Maybe they are all in the closet. All the homosexuals I’ve seen are sickly and decrepit, their eyes devoid of life.”

Who’s happy now?

The openly gay Republican legislator from Minnesota, Paul Koering, won his battle against “family-values candidate” Kevin Goedker:

“In one of the most closely watched of 20 legislative primary contests in the state, Twin Cities-based Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage had leafletted cars at Brainerd-area churches Sunday to publicize Koering’s failure to vote three years ago on a floor amendment to prohibit the promotion or teaching of homosexuality and bisexuality in public schools.”

In New York, attorney general Eliot Spitzer won the Democratic nomination for Governor. Spitzer has said that if elected Governor, he would facilitate the introduction of gay marriage legislation in the state. Pundits have noted that the strength of the state’s Democratic Party could set it up to sweep statewide offices this November, placing Democratics in every state office for the first time since Franklin Roosevelt was president in 1941.

Here’s a summary of key primary races across the country.