The same fire that wrought devastation Tuesday prevented all of the primary election votes from being counted in El Paso County, but it doesn’t appear that it will matter.

Republican incumbents, with the exception of State Sen. Larry Liston, had no trouble holding serve, winning by easy majorities.

GOP Congressman Doug Lamborn was sure to beat challenger Robert Blaha, taking 61 percent of the vote. It’s tough to beat an entrenched incumbent who has not stumbled badly in the eyes of his supporters, and when there isn’t much difference between the candidates on the issues.

Blaha, a successful businessman who poured hundreds of thousands into his campaign, questioned Lamborn’s integrity and ability to get things done. The unspoken subtext of Blaha’s campaign was that he is simply smarter and more capable than Lamborn.

That may well be true, but it is hard to win a race that way.

“We leave with our heads up,” Blaha told his supporters at a party downtown. “Stay around and have some fun. We’re not burying anyone here tonight. Tomorrow’s another day.”

A win is a win, but Lamborn’s is hardly a towering triumph. He knows that even as an incumbent, 39 percent of the members of his own party wanted him out.

On Monday Lamborn made sure to be front and center for news conference cameras, making it seem as if he was personally responsible for the arrival of federal slurry bombers. The truth, of course, is that we do not live in a country where congressmen can summon close air support — and that is a very good thing.

Although she failed to win top-line designation for her primary, GOP House Majority Leader Amy Stephens was ahead of Marsha Looper by a 19-point margin. Stephens has clear sailing without a general election opponent but may find her party no longer holds the majority in the House after November.

County commissioners Dennis Hisey and Sallie Clark were ahead by comfortable margins, too.

While a good many voters criticized the commissioners for a tricky term limits measure, it turns out it wasn’t nearly enough to make the difference in a primary.

It was too early for an accurate assessment of Tuesday’s wildfire damage, but of her election win Clark said, “How do you celebrate?”

She said “win or lose I was going to wake up a county commissioner.” County commissioners and regular citizens wake up to a tragic scene today.

A GOP primary season that once held a lot of interest finished as a footnote.

It will be hard for the community to see victories or silver linings in the wake of a fire that arrived amid the “perfect storm” of the worst streak of hot weather in memory.

As Clark said, “How do you celebrate?”—Listen to Barry Noreen on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM at 6:35 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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Listen to Barry Noreen on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM at 6:35 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.