Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday for primary balloting

LYNN – With the presidential campaigns dominating election talk, voters will have to be content Tuesday with deciding local Democratic primary races for U.S. Senate and Governor?s Council.U.S. Sen. John Kerry faces off against Gloucester resident and fellow Democrat Edward O?Reilly. During a Sept. 5 debate, Kerry said he was proud of his record, and eager to return to Washington to continue his work.He repeatedly linked himself to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, noting that he was the first elected official of national standing to endorse Obama.O?Reilly, a Gloucester attorney, twice read from Kerry adviser Robert Shrum?s book recounting how Kerry had asked him before the vote on the Iraq war about its political ramifications, and said Kerry should have read the National Intelligence estimate on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.The winner of the Kerry-O?Reilly primary faces Republican Jeffrey Beatty in the Nov. 4 final election.The Governor?s Council primaries pit incumbent Mary-Ellen Manning of Salem against Timothy Houten of Middleton in the 5th District, including Lynn, and 6th District Councilor Michael Callahan against Roseann Trionfi-Mazzuchelli of Winthrop.The council reviews judicial appointments and pardons and commutations.Voters will have to wait until Nov. 4 to decide the presidential contest and races for two local congressional seats in which Democratic incumbents face off against Republican challengers.Despite a disadvantage of 150 seats in the Legislature, Republicans are fielding fewer candidates for open legislative seats this fall than Democrats are, and the GOP is testing only 12 incumbent state representatives and three senators, according to a State House News Service review – a 9 percent challenge rate.Democrats are going after one of the five GOP senators in the 40-seat Senate and five of 19 Republican members in the 160-seat House. Democrats are running for all 18 open seats in the Legislature, while the Republican Party has candidates in 13.At the same time, top Republicans are still waiting for statewide candidates to emerge as potential threats in 2010 to break the Democratic grip on all six constitutional offices.Only 35 of the Legislature?s 174 Democrats face ballot challenges from either party. Only one Republican is running for a post on the Governor?s Council, where all eight councilors are Democrats. Six incumbents face intra-party contests.Voters will also decide three ballot questions in the final election including decriminalization of marijuana, banning greyhound racing and eliminating the state income tax.