Voters select candidates in Miss. and Neb.

JACKSON, Miss. -- A Democrat in deeply conservative Mississippi was vying for a congressional seat Tuesday in a race Republicans have tried to cast as a referendum on Barack Obama and the national Democratic Party.

Mississippi voters cast ballots in a special election runoff to decide who serves the final months of a seat vacated by Roger Wicker, a Republican appointed to the U.S. Senate when Trent Lott resigned. A win would allow Democrats to add to their 235-199 majority in Congress -- if only for a few months until November's general elections.

With 69 percent of the precincts reporting, early returns show Demcorat Travis Childers with a narrow lead of 52 percent to Republican Greg Davis' 48 percent.

Elsewhere, Nebraska voters were deciding who would compete to replace retiring Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel.

Childers took on Davis for a Mississippi seat that has been held by the GOP since 1994. Both will run against two other candidates in the Nov. 4 general election for the full term, so the winner will likely gain name recognition and a fundraising edge.

Childers is a socially conservative county official, while Davis is mayor of a fast-growing city across the state line from Memphis.

The race has attracted national attention, with Vice President Dick Cheney campaigning for Davis on Monday, and Davis running ads trying to tie Childers to Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Childers has brushed aside those comparisons, countering that with his own support of gun rights and opposition to abortion, his social values match those of most voters in the deeply conservative district.

Childers and Davis advanced to Tuesday's runoff by grabbing the top two spots in a six-person special election April 22.

In right-leaning Nebraska, Republican Mike Johanns, the former U.S. agriculture secretary and Nebraska governor, has enjoyed a wide fundraising and name-recognition edge on his opponent. Johanns, who has raised more than $2 million, takes Hagel's open support into the contest against businessman Pat Flynn.

Among the four Democrats seeking to advance to November, Tony Raimondo and Scott Kleeb are considered the most formidable contenders.