In yesterday's Ohio, Indiana and N.C. primaries, the establishment within the GOP and the Dem parties beat back flanking movements from Tea Partiers and liberals respectively, writes Chris Cillizza in the WashPost:

1. The establishment wing of both national parties scored wins in Tuesday's Senate primaries in Ohio and Indiana -- and, to a lesser extent, North Carolina.

Neither former Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) nor Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D-Ohio) scored terribly convincing victories over their underfunded primary opponents but, in winning, they cleared a necessary hurdle and in so doing beat back challenges from their party's activist base.

. . . A similar but much less high profile scenario played out in Ohio where Fisher beat out Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for the Democratic nod. Fisher had the backing of state and national Democrats but Brunner drew support from liberals. Fisher managed to win but spent heavily to do so -- spending that means he will start in a deep financial hole against former Rep. Rob Portman (R) in the fall.