Daily Kos Elections Colorado, New York, Oklahoma & Utah primary and South Carolina runoff preview

Voters in four states'Colorado, New York, Oklahoma and Utah'go to the polls today to pick candidates in party primaries. And in South Carolina, voters in the 7th Congressional District are choosing nominees in runoff elections. Below is our guide to the key races in each state. Since New York is the main event, we've placed those writeups first. (The other four states are at the end.) We've also included an interactive, zoomable map of the Empire State's new congressional districts to help you follow along:

Interactive map of New York's new congressional districts ' NY-Sen (R): It's a three-way contest for the privilege of getting flattened by Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the fall, between Rep. Bob Turner, conservative activist Wendy Long and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos. Every poll of this race has shown huge numbers of undecideds, though Maragos evidently decided to give up about a week ago, when he paid himself back a $900K loan he had previously loaned to his campaign. Turner's raised much more than Long, but we're still talking peanuts for a state the size of New York. For what it's worth, Turner's had small leads in all the public polling.

' NY-06 (D): Rep. Gary Ackerman's unexpected retirement in the wake of redistricting created only the second hotly contested open-seat Democratic primary in New York City in the last decade. Three contenders quickly emerged: Assemblyman Rory Lancman, Assemblywoman Grace Meng and NYC councilwoman Liz Crowley. Meng immediately won the endorsement of the Queens Democratic Party and soon thereafter that of EMILY's List. Lancman has scored the lion's share of labor support, with backing from big unions like 1199 SEIU, DC 37 and the CWA, as well as getting the Working Families Party's formal nod. Crowley hasn't received the same level of outside help'mostly getting smaller, uniformed unions like the firefighters'but she's styled herself as a "moderate Democrat" and has made a play for more conservative-leaning voters.

There probably aren't too many of those voting in the Democratic primary in this 63 percent Obama district, which is why the race seems to be more of a contest between Meng, who's raised the most money, and Lancman, the second-best fundraiser. But there hasn't been any public polling, so it's hard to say whether Lancman or Crowley is the bigger threat to Meng, who seems to be the frontrunner. (Gov. Andrew Cuomo pulled the ultimate weenie move and endorsed her on Monday night, but he seldom backs losers.) Meng is also trying to make history as the first Asian-American to win election to Congress in the state. Asians make up a sizable portion of this district (39 percent), though it's important to remember that this is a diverse group encompassing people from many different ethnic backgrounds.

Head below the fold for the rest of our writeups.