Oklahoma elections: Gubernatorial hopefuls hit campaign trail

They made a joint appearance at an Oklahoma City trade show Wednesday, one day after the state's primary election.

"Our campaign won because we focused on all cylinders," said Askins, who was elected lieutenant governor in 2006 after serving the 12-year limit in the Legislature.

A big boost was last week's endorsement of former University of Oklahoma head football coach Barry Switzer, who helped Gov. Brad Henry to his upset victory in 2002 over heavily favored Republican Steve Largent.

"Coach Switzer letting people know that he's known me for 30 years and that he trusts me was important, but getting out the vote in all segments of Oklahoma were important," Askins said. "We used all kinds of media, whether it was print, radio, television or Wi-Fi, to connect with voters."

Fallin, who was elected in 1994 as the state's first female lieutenant governor and served three terms before getting elected in 2006 to Congress, said she is more in line with conservatives of both parties. Democratic President Barack Obama failed to win a single Oklahoma county in his 2008 election, and his approval rating remains low in the state.

"I don't accept a lot of policies coming from the Washington Democrats," she said.

"I don't think those are Oklahoma values. I think it's going to be a big difference in this race going forward."

Fallin won without a runoff in a four-way race, winning 54.8 percent of the vote. State Sen. Randy Brogdon, of Owasso, received 39.4 percent of the votes.

Askins won 50.3 percent of the vote, or just 1,493 more votes out of 263,649 cast, in her win over Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

Fallin is the first female GOP gubernatorial candidate in Oklahoma's 103-year history. Askins is the second woman to win the Democratic nomination for governor. Laura Boyd was the Democratic nominee in 1998. She lost to then-Gov. Frank Keating.