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slash gabfest.

Hello and welcome to this late political gab fest for the 11th of June.

I'm John Dickerson in Washington with David Plotz.

Emily Bazelon is in New Haven.

We're today going to talk about this week's elections across the country.

There were 11 of them. And then we're also going to talk about this week's elections across the country. There were 11 of them.

And then we're also going to talk about the BP oil spill. It continues into its 50th day this week, well beyond its 50th day.

And then we're going to finish by talking about Helen Thomas, the former White House correspondent and columnist now no longer has a job.

Okay, so our first topic is going to be the elections.

Just to set the table here, we had a series of elections all over the country.

The biggest news, we'll start with South Carolina, was that Nikki Haley came in with 49% of the vote, beat her three male competitors, but didn't beat them enough and is now in a runoff against Gresham Barrett, a congressman.

She is likely to win. Blanche Lincoln, the senator from incumbent senator from Arkansas, beat the lieutenant governor, Bill Halter, in a runoff that was a big defeat for labor or whether it was we'll talk about that.

And then in Arizona, Sharon Engel was the Tea Party, sorry Nevada, Nevada.

Sharon Engel, the Tea Party, sorry, Nevada. Nevada.

Sharon Engel, the Tea Party favorite, came up from the out of the blue, not out of the blue, but anyway, a late, strong surge.

One, they are now faces off against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

And finally, in California, we have the victory in the Republican

...