Del.: Carper Wins Second Term As Governor

DOVER, Del. (AllPolitics, Nov. 5) -- Democratic Gov. Thomas R. Carper handily won a second term as Delaware's chief executive, overcoming a smear campaign launched two weeks before the election.

State Treasurer Janet Rzewnicki, Carper's Republican challenger, denied responsibility for unsubstantiated allegations that Carper had hit his wife and the couple planned to divorce, but her campaign was damaged by the controversy.

Carper and his wife Martha denied the allegations, and blamed Rzewnicki.

"People in Delaware don't like those kind of tactics," Carper said.

State Republican Chairman Basil Battaglia said Rzewnicki was hurt "tremendously" by the smear campaign, and the candidate did not attend the traditional GOP victory celebration in Newark.

Pundits have speculated that Rzewnicki, who has two years left on her term as state treasurer, will have a difficult time staying in office.

Carper did admit to striking his first wife, Diane, 15 years ago. That information was made public during his 1982 congressional campaign.

Delaware voters have chosen Carper for elected office ten times since 1982, when he took the state's lone congressional seat. He served five terms as a congressman and three as state treasurer.