Doug Lamborn has done it again.

The first-term Republican U.S. Representative from Colorado Springs, seen as vulnerable ever since a narrow primary win two years ago, won a decisive victory Tuesday against two of the same candidates he faced in 2006.

With 96 percent of the vote in, Lamborn had 45 percent of the vote. Businessman Jeff Crank had 29.3 percent, while retired Air Force Major General Bentley Rayburn polled a surprisingly high 25.7 percent.

The race was essentially over early in the evening, after the release of early and mail-in ballot totals showed Lamborn with a commanding 46 percent lead. Mail-in ballot support had helped put Lamborn over the top in the 2006 race as well, when he bested the second-place Crank by less than 1,000 votes in a six-way primary.

Many - including Crank and Rayburn themselves -- felt Lamborn would have been defeated this year if he had only faced one opponent. But a proposed deal between Crank and Rayburn under which the loser of a jointly commissioned poll would drop out of the race fell apart in July, and so the pair split the anti-Lamborn vote.

Lamborn disputed that he would have lost in a one-on-one matchup with either candidate, telling PolitickerCO.com Tuesday night that "Our polling showed that if either (Crank or Rayburn) had dropped out we would've picked up a pretty good number of that person's supporters.

"I feel like this is a strong victory," Lamborn said. "People saw that I was carrying out the promises that I pledged when I was first elected two years ago: standing up for Republican values, working to bring in benefits for the community, and then a lot of hard work with a lot of great volunteers."

Crank, when asked how this race differed from the narrower 2006 campaign, answered: "Fewer people, but same result I guess.

"(It's) disappointing, but Doug is a formidable opponent," Crank said. "He did a good job."

Crank conceded the race at about 8 p.m. - he later went on stage with Lamborn and "rallied the troops," as he put it, to help bring together 5th District Republicans who might be sore about this election or even the 2006 primary.

Lamborn said he appreciated the gesture, as uniting Republicans will be "very important in this election - not for my race, but for the top-of-the-ticket two races," meaning the Barack Obama-John McCain presidential race, and the Bob Schaffer-Mark Udall U.S. Senate race.

Rayburn's campaign waited longer than Crank's camp did to concede, as they wanted to see the returns from the more rural mountain counties. Rayburn manager Mike Hesse said they were happy with their campaign, especially since Rayburn - considered by most to be the third-place candidate -- nearly beat Crank.

As for Rayburn's political future, Hesse said there are "plenty of seats opening up with term-limits (in place)."

Crank said he didn't want to talk about his political future on the night of Lamborn's victory.

"You know, it's for (Lamborn) to celebrate his victory and this isn't the night for me to decide what my next move is," Crank said. "My next move is to finish up here and go home and go to bed."

Lamborn now faces Democrat Hal Bidlack, a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel, in the general election.

"I take (Bidlack's) challenge very seriously," Lamborn said. "I do think that when we start to talk about the issues, his stands will not be as popular with the voters as the stands that I take on the issues."

Lamborn said he plans to issue a debate challenge to Bidlack Wednesday.

Bidlack spokesperson Christy Le Lait said the Democratic nominee is "excited about the race" and would welcome the chance to debate Lamborn.

"(Bidlack) would like to debate in all the counties at least once, and hopefully several times in El Paso County," Le Lait said.