ALABAMA: The Tuscaloosa News reports, "Declaring himself the 'anti-establishment candidate' even in his own party, Tuscaloosa state Rep. Robert Bentley continued his improbable run for governor Tuesday by winning the runoff for the Republican nomination in a landslide over Bradley Byrne, whom he had trailed in the initial voting on June 1. Bentley, a two-term member of the Alabama House of Representatives, had 260,843 votes, or 56 percent of the vote, to 204,388 votes, or 44 percent for Byrne, a former state senator and former chancellor of the state's two-year college system with 100 percent of the vote counted statewide."

"Bentley now goes on to face Democratic nominee Ron Sparks, the commissioner of agriculture and industries, who won his own primary without a runoff, in the Nov. 2 general election."

Also last night… “A mainstream Republican rolled past a tea party activist Tuesday in the GOP runoff for a southeast Alabama congressional seat that Republicans hope to reclaim,” the AP reports. “Montgomery City Councilwoman Martha Roby was drawing 60 percent in the unofficial count in the 2nd Congressional District GOP runoff Tuesday against Rick Barber, a former Marine who operates a Montgomery pool hall that hosts tea party meetings. Roby will face conservative Democratic U.S. Rep. Bobby Bright in the fall. Bright's win in 2008 marked the first time the GOP had lost the seat since 1964.”

And: “Birmingham attorney Terri Sewell won the Democratic nomination Tuesday for Congress in Alabama's heavily Democratic 7th Congressional District. In the November general election, she will face Selma businessman Don Chamberlain, who won the Republican nomination in Tuesday's GOP runoff… A victory in November would make her the state's first black congresswoman and the second woman in Alabama elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.”

COLORADO: “A new example of possible plagiarism by Scott McInnis surfaced Tuesday as the Republican gubernatorial candidate faced calls to repay $300,000 he received for plagiarized essays on water that he submitted as 'original works,' the Denver Post writes. In addition to his article, ‘Musings on Water,’ that contained passages similar or copied from an essay by a now-state Supreme Court justice, a speech and op-ed McInnis wrote on North Korea contains phrases copied from a Washington Post op-ed.

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Politico links to Republican Senate candidate Jane Norton's new ad “targeting GOP primary rival Ken Buck over the support he's received from an outside conservative group, Americans for Job Security… Norton's commercial aims to turn Buck's air support against him, calling his character into question as he benefits from third-party attacks on his behalf.” In the ad, Norton says, “You'd think Ken'd be man enough to do it himself.”

KANSAS: Roll Call goes to Kansas to look at the GOP Senate primary there and finds Wizard of Oz references abound on the trail in the race between Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt.

LOUISIANA: Vitter now a birther? “The Louisiana Republican told a town hall meeting on Monday that while he doesn’t have legal standing to bring a lawsuit, he supports others who do,” The Hill writes. “‘I personally don’t have standing to bring litigation in court. But I support conservative legal organizations and others who would bring that to court. I think that is the valid and most possibly effective grounds to do it,’ Vitter said in response to a question.” Liberal Web site Talking Points Memo has the video. (Just listen to the applause in the room for the question.)

Even the New York Daily News writes about it with this lead: “The fringe ‘birther’ movement may have found itself a new ally.” And it adds these nuggets: “The Lousiana senator was criticized in June when a longtime aide resigned amid reports he had allegedly threatened to kill a female friend, and held her at knife-point in 2008. Women's rights groups slammed the Republican for not firing him sooner. Vitter, who was caught up in a scandal with a prostitute in 2007, is running for re-election in November.”

“Former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor (R) says his last-minute decision to enter the Republican Senate race on Friday was prompted by widespread discontent in the GOP with incumbent Sen. David Vitter (R-La.). ‘A lot of people that I talk to are just dissatisfied [with Vitter] when they can’t even get a phone call returned, so it’s across the board. It’s not just any one thing,’ Traylor told The Hill on Tuesday. ‘I wouldn’t say that [scandal] was the last straw, but that’s just one more of many,’ Traylor said.” He added, “I think he’s been weakened so badly that, if we’re not careful, we’re going to lose this seat to a Democrat, and I don’t want that to happen,” Traylor said. “I want Louisiana to have a conservative Republican senator.”

TENNESSEE: President Obama said Tuesday he is endorsing Steve Cohen, “the white incumbent for Congress in a majority black district in west Tennessee,” the L.A. Times reports. In a statement, Obama said, “Together, we passed historic health care reform and together we're continuing the fight to renew our economy and bring jobs back to the American people. I am proud to stand with Steve and support his re-election to Congress."

SOUTH CAROLINA: This should be interesting… Alvin Greene is set to make his first official campaign speech – to a local chapter of the NAACP on Sunday.