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As voters buck the establishment, GOP hopes of taking Senate control again rest on insurgents

WASHINGTON (AP) ' For Senate Republicans, 2012 is starting a lot like 2010.
Republicans have a shot at taking control of the Senate from Democrats as long as insurgent conservatives who are defeating the GOP's more establishment candidates in primaries don't frighten off independent voters like they did two years ago.
A little-known state senator in Nebraska, Deb Fischer, became the latest unexpected Senate Republican nominee Tuesday, rallying late to upset the favored ' and better funded ' choices of both the party's mainstream and tea party establishments.
Fischer's victory occurred just a week after tea party and other conservative groups embraced Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock. He scored a big upset of his own ' knocking off the Senate's longest-serving Republican, six-term Sen. Richard Lugar.