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Darron Cummings / AP
Senate candidates running in the GOP primary, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.,and Richard Mourdock, left, participate in a debate Wednesday, April 11, 2012, in Indianapolis.
In the 2010 midterm elections, the GOP was jarred by an array of suddenly-potent Tea Party-backed challengers taking on the party establishment. The movement achieved mixed results overall, but resulted in a Republican Party heavily influenced by it.
History is repeating itself in Indiana where one of the Senate’s two longest-serving Republicans, Richard Lugar, 80, who was first elected in 1976, is facing a challenge in the May 8 primary from state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who became famous in 2009 for opposing the auto industry bailout and the forced write-downs for Chrysler bond holders.
Mourdock is backed by Tea Party activists, the Club for Growth, the National Rifle Association, and old-line social conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly.
As Lugar struggles to fend off Mourdock’s challenge, Democrats hope their candidate, Rep. Joe Donnelly, will profit from the GOP schism and pick up the incumbent’s seat in November.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Wednesday, “The race is very close now and it’ll be decided on May 8 and a number of factors could apply. Obviously turnout is important. Gov. (Mitch) Daniels’s ad supporting Sen. Lugar is a very positive development for him,” he said. “But our job is to hold the seat (in November) and we’ll support the nominee in the general election, but I think we will hold that seat regardless of what happens in the primary.”
A Lugar loss would end the political career of a man who was first elected in 1964 to the Indianapolis school board and who in the 1970s was known as “Richard Nixon’s favorite mayor” when he held that office in Indianapolis. Since taking his Senate seat in 1977, Lugar has become his party’s cerebral foreign policy expert.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. who serves alongside Lugar on the Foreign Relations Committee, said “the knowledge that Sen. Lugar has – having worked on these issues for decades – has been invaluable ... Certainly he’s someone who’s very respected in the Senate and he’s listened to by both sides of the aisle.”
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But no matter how deeply respected Lugar is on Capitol Hill, Mourdock’s charge is that Lugar isn’t conservative enough – although Lugar’s lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, based on dozens of roll call votes, is 77 out 100, putting him a long way from Senate GOP centrists such as Olympia Snowe of Maine, who has a 48.5 lifetime ACU rating.
Politico's Alex Burns explains why certain conservative groups are launching attack ads aimed at longtime GOP Sen. Dick Lugar criticizing his stance on gun rights, tax hikes and government bailouts.
Mourdock’s campaign ads regularly link Lugar with Democratic President Barack Obama. Early in Obama’s Senate stint, Lugar helped him establish his foreign policy credentials. In 2005 Obama accompanied Lugar on a trip to Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan to inspect weapons dumps and sites where smallpox and other pathogens were kept.
“When Dick Lugar moved to Washington, he left behind his conservative Hoosier values,” Mourdock says in one of his television spots. “How else to explain his support for amnesty, for Obama’s liberal Supreme Court choices, even his vote to bail out Greece?”
An ad the NRA has run against Lugar tells viewers that, “Some things shouldn’t change. Our Indiana values, stewardship of the land, and the protection of our Second Amendment and hunting rights. But over his 36 years in Washington, Dick Lugar has changed ... He’s become the only Republican candidate in Indiana with an “F” rating from the NRA.”
The NRA grievance against Lugar goes way back: he voted for Bill Clinton’s 1993 Brady handgun bill and for the ban on certain semiautomatic weapons, called “assault weapons” by gun control advocates.
Lugar, always avuncular and courteous, told reporters this week in Washington that his battle with Mourdock is “a very close contest (and) has been throughout.”
Asked about Mourdock’s view that he has changed in his years in Washington, Lugar chuckled amiably and said “I think it’s his view but we’re getting along fine with voters.”
Since last year, Democrats have accused Lugar of being detached from Indiana issues and denounced him for living in Virginia. They gained ammunition when he had to reimburse the Treasury for some hotel stays in Indiana that were charged to his Senate office account. On the residency issue, Lugar said Tuesday, “It was clearly somebody engaging in negative campaign research, trying to find some difficulty.”
Since this is his first primary challenge since 1976, is it difficult since he’s perhaps out of practice? “No,” Lugar replied, “I’ve been campaigning all over the country for the last 35 years and I’m campaigning vigorously again this time ... This is a very vigorous experience and we’re doing the best we can.”
The Republican fratricide in Senate races two years ago had at best mixed results for party leaders.
Darron Cummings / AP
Brent Gentry shows his support for Richard Mourdock before a U.S. Senate debate Wednesday, April 11, 2012, in Indianapolis. Mourdock is running against Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.
One of the GOP incumbents, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, ultimately survived after losing the Republican primary by running in November as a write-in candidate.
Establishment GOP candidates in Arizona, Indiana, New Hampshire, and Missouri defeated their conservative primary opponents and went on to win in November. The party favorite in Washington beat his conservative challenger in the primary, then lost in November.
Elsewhere, conservative challengers forced one GOP senator, Robert Bennett, into retirement in Utah and another, Arlen Specter, into switching parties in Pennsylvania.
Conservative favorites won four Senate seats (in Pennsylvania, Utah, Kentucky, and Florida), but lost to Democrats in four other Senate contests (Delaware, Connecticut, Nevada, and Colorado) – races which more mainstream Republican candidates might have won.
One of the Establishment GOP victims of the Tea Party surge in 2010, was former Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware, who lost to Christine O’Donnell – who then was defeated by Democrat Chris Coons in November.
Castle is now a partner with the DLA Piper law firm.
Reflecting on the parallels with his bitter loss to O’Donnell two years ago, Castle said if Lugar loses the primary, “it has the effect of making it more and more difficult for people who take middle-of-the-road positions, who try to work with both sides of the aisle to get things done ... .”
The Tea Party trend puts such pragmatism, Castle said, “at jeopardy in the Republican Party ... It moves the party not just further to the right, but to a much more conservative stance than it used to have. It’s going to ultimately lead to a minority status in the country.”
Pointing to the danger of Mourdock winning the primary but losing to Donnelly in November, Castle said that for Indiana Republicans, Lugar “may not be 100 percent what they might want, but the alternative is you may elect somebody from the other party.”
Castle’s campaign fund has given $1,000 to Lugar’s campaign.
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Seeing the race from a different angle, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, whose Senate Conservatives PAC supported O’Donnell against Castle and Sharron Angle in Nevada in 2010, said, “Richard is a friend of mine – but of course, we’ve got two Richards in that race. Dick Lugar is a friend of mine, but I’d be honored to serve with Mourdock. He’s clearly someone who is in line with some of the things we’re trying to do,” but he added, “I’m not going to get involved” in the Lugar versus Mourdock primary. “I’m not involved in any incumbent races right now.”
Meanwhile Democrats are waiting to take on the survivor of the GOP primary. "While Joe Donnelly has been focused on jobs and the economy, both Richard Mourdock and Dick Lugar have spent the last year slinging mud, pandering to the Tea Party, and showing voters that they're both of touch with Indiana's middle class. Joe's candidacy gives us an excellent chance of winning in November regardless of who Republicans nominate," said Shripal Shah, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Despite the Democrats touting Donnelly's chances, there are echoes of Indiana’s 2010 Senate race when Democrats had hopes for former Rep. Brad Ellsworth, a centrist Democrat with a voting record much like Donnelly's.
Ellsworth ended up losing by 14 percentage points to Republican Dan Coats. Democrats say 2012 isn't 2010; turnout this year is going to be significantly higher and the economy is healthier now than it was in 2010.
But Donnelly voted for the Obama health care bill and for his stimulus plan, neither of which will help with conservative voters in Indiana. And his fund-raising has been less than stellar.
Democrats privately say that Donnelly runs stronger against Mourdock than against Lugar.
Tom Williams / Roll Call/Getty Images
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., talks to a reporter before the Senate Republican Policy luncheon in the Capitol.
“Yeah, I understand that,” Cornyn said. “Sen. Lugar is a legend in Indiana. To show how quickly things change, six years ago, he was uncontested in the Republican primary and in the general election ... But it will probably make it more of a contest if Sen. Lugar is not the nominee, but I’m confident we’ll hold the seat.” Cornyn said the Indiana race “is not one of my worries.”
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After 36 years in Washington....let's have a fresh face...to many reps and senators out stay their effectiveness.....Indiana voters do not listen to the lame stream media....consider each candidate and vote.
As a fiscal and social conservative, I do honestly believe that to fix Washington which is the cancer devouring the country's vitality, moderate Republicans must be challenged and replaced. Lugar is one of these. The "can't we just get along independents" need to get on one side of the fence or the other. THey are like the witness to a rape or mugging who allows it to go on because he does not want to "get involved". Right now our Country is being raped by programs put in place by LBJ 50 years ago. Welfare is costing us a Trillion dollars a year. Government took the place of husbands in the families of the poor. Government provided a negative inducement to these women to have children without a husband at the taxpayers expense. This is a tax bill for every working American who actually pays taxes of $25,000 per year. That dog will not hunt. 41% of all children now born out of wedlock. SO how is that social liberalism working for ya? There must be consequences for bad behavior in today's society as of right now there are none.
Tthe right keeps saying the left keeps blaming the right and that Obama has spent trillions in his tenure well thats true but what the right is in denial about is the fact Obama came into office facing the worse economic recession in this nations history sorry righties thats a fact, and he had to spend to help lift ourselves out of the mess we were in the problem was he didnt spend enough, the nightmare 8yrs of uncontrolled banks and wall st had on our country was far worse than known at that time so righties you can be in denial all you want but America knows the truth and in 2010 the tea baggers came in promising jobs,jobs,jobs, and all they have done is obstuct jobs Obama despite the tea party has 28 mo's of job growth in the private sector the job loss is in the public sectors Fed and state if they were running under normal conditions not cutting infrastructure jobs, teachers, firefighters, police, etc etc are unemployment would be at about 5% right now and all these people would be off fed and state aide 30% of their salaries would be paid in taxes and they would be buying goods and services all growing are economy but your elected gop members know this thats why their doing what their doing and selling you all on untruths to rile you up for their political gain sad you righties fall for a party like this in todays current repug party Reagan,Bush,MCcain would'nt stand a chance in your primaries yet your all falling for this WAKE UP.....
Jan of 2007 W still had two years left. Unemployment was 4.6%. Jan of 2007 Democrats took over Congress What has happened since the Democrats took over??? The housing bust?? Ask Dodd and Frank what happened! This was without a doubt a Democratic Party boo-boo! And that multi-trillion dollar Obamacare hasn't kicked in yet! MY! MY! MY! How can Democrats blame Bush for their screw-ups???
The housing debacle wasn't the fault of Obama or Bush.... That said Clinton, Dodds and Franks were the force that pushed down credit scores so those that had NO BUSINESS getting a mortgage could... and those that had good credit could buy 2-3 homes. That in turn allowed the banks to lend to many they never would have/could have before. In the simplest of terms this is what got us into this mess.... Just as the left will correctly say, "many in the middle east can't grasp or value a democracy, so don't waste time/money/lives there". They don't seem to understand there is a percentage of poor in America (every nation), that have NO INTENTION of ever adding value to the Nation.
Hey it was Republican big Business that took us there to begin with.
It was democrats and their EVERYBODY SHOULD OWN A HOME NOW.....EVEN IF THEY CAN'T PAY FOR IT....scheme.....
Wrong frank. It was sub prime lending mandated by the Democrat inspired Community Reinvestment Act. You still haven't told us who Chaney is.
I know! I know! Lon Chaney played in monster movies. His son, Lon Chaney, Jr played the "Wolf Man" Are those actors getting blamed for the Democrats screw-ups??
False Frank Rogers... but Barnie Franks had much to do with it... along with Clinton and Dodd. See the paragraph above.
LOL blue eyes are predominant and always come out on top, search your genetics!!
saltylen: Anyone can be predominant when the steal, cheat, con, murder, rape, lie, have sex with little kids, use god as a way to screw people, have a patent on sex scandals, and trying to get rid of all of the hispanics because they give the nation to much color. If you check your genetics the answer will knock you over. Remind you of the gop and people who think the same as they do does it not? To many collards green and burritos for some people.
I live in a border State and have a PROBLEM with ANYONE that is a criminal. The ends don't justify the means with aliens, with pot smokers, etc., etc... Change the LAWS and they aren't criminals, till then, toss them out. And OBAMA PROMISED immigration reform in 08 but has failed the Latinos. You see he knows if he had reworked immigration a percentage of Latinos wouldn't be happy and vote for him. As such he can push it off till after the election (like he's doing with the Russians over missiles), to get their VOTE. He's dangling a "carrot" over the heads of the uneducated and he has tricked them again. He hasn't tricked the Jews this time however.
Vote the Socialist wacko out.
Amen!!
i am voting for dick lugar in may as are most of the indiana democrats i know because come this fall he is better than alternative if democratic candidate is defeated as usual
Just a reminder; gas today $3.45, gas December 2008 $1.87.
Obama wants gas prices to go thru the roof, so he can push his Socialist agenda.
He hates America!!
Dean....you are an idiot!
Dean25 Do yourself a favor and watch something other than fox, because that's their talking points.
He doesn't hate America. In his book, DREAMS of MY FATHER, you will find he supports the dream of not having the world full of Imperial Nations that push down the small/poor nations. That ideology is wonderful in a perfect world though not very practical. Even if he lessons America's role in the world and has it become a larger version of socialist France. Sadly he doesn't understand that China will be a monster no matter how he and his fathers dreams pan out. And just as we balanced the USSR for decades, we need to be strong as China's clout grows. Obama isn't a bad guy, just a left of center, black male version of Sarah Palin.
It took a democrat to get us out of the last mess the Republicans got us into( FDR). And the republicans called him a Socialist also.
FDR's policies prolonged the Great Depression just like Obama's are prolonging this one. You still haven't told us who Chaney is.
Chaney is the homeless dude who is boinking your wife. Next question?
Thanks. I remember a Vice President named Cheney. Now we all know who Chaney is.
As a former Hoosier I find this all too sad. If there was a younger Lugar to take his place...Hoosiers would be jumping on the bandwagon. Instead it is old well-balanced ideas vs. young extreme right ideas. These extreme right ideas are no better than the extreme left ideas. Lugar has lost a lot of base because the job is demanding.
Lugar is a nice guy. It is time for him to go watch his grands play ball and prepare for his Maker.
Check the facts............Republican administrations historically outspend democratic administrations
Not this time, Bunkie! Check the facts.
Big oil will not take its boot off of Obama's throat until after the election.
Dean are you a moron.?
I do think Obama will get a talk show or something like that out of Hollywood in Jan. So don't cry for him Argentina!
We should give these guys the tax policies Eisenhower had 95%
Quote Eisenhower: While his 1952 landslide gave the Republicans control of both houses of the Congress, Eisenhower believed that taxes could not be cut until the budget was balanced. "We cannot afford to reduce taxes, [and] reduce income," he said, "until we have in sight a program of expenditure that shows that the factors of income and outgo will be balanced." Eisenhower kept the national debt low and inflation near zero.
Unemployment has been at or near 8% during Obama's entire term to this point.
That is just what America needs?
Harry Truman in 1948 speech said"The gop will try to make people believe everything the government does for country is socialism" that was 64 yrs ago and your all still singing the same tune were sick of bailing out the country after yrs of a repugs reign it happens over and over again yet now flipper wants control so he can put bushs policies on steroids not a chance repugs need to regroup get a fresh list of new ideas trickle down doest work its been proven over and over again...
Obama/Biden 2012. A foregone conclusion.
Yea, this time instead of "HOPE AND CHANGE", the campaign slogan will be "PARTISAN POLITICS AS USUAL and TAXES ARE GOING UP 11% for the MIDDLE CLASS"
Dean........get a brain
The opposite of Progressive is Regressive. In the case of both of these gentlemen, running for the same senate seat, they both advocate support for a Regressive Party that would return us to a place worse than where we are today.
When Lugar toes the party line on every issue by voting in lockstep in the Senate, he has not shown he has the ability to think for himself. All he has shown is that he is a good follower, a good puppet, a valuable asset to the Corporations, venture capitalists, Mining magnates (like the Koch Brothers), Oil companies and Republican leadership that support his repeat candidacies. Do I need to go on?
Remember the pact all Republicans have to sign in order to get monetary support for their re-election aspirations from the lobbyist Grover Norquist in return for opposing tax increases on the rich? Do you think the Federal government can continue to operate for less while we have a post WW2 population increase that requires more? Should we lower their benefits? Should we get rid of yours, too? Should we increase taxes on the poor to offset the low taxes the upper class enjoys?
Senator Lugar is against Women's rights to decide for themselves. His votes say that is true. He is against contraception. His votes prove he is willing to vote that way. So, either he has no core values or his core values consist of the greed or the belief in the justification for the votes he casts. Whichever one you may choose he is displaying, they are all regressive to the topics he is voting on. The poison Pills the Republican party employs on every piece of legislation is not endorsed for the merits, but for the continued support of the contributors to the Republican cause.
If the Republican Party is now under the thumb of the Tea Party faction, Religious Right, and the PACS that Citizen's United legislation created (written by ALEC) , then Senator Lugar is too Progressive for them now? This must be true if the Republican Party is supporting his Republican adversary. Did he do something they decided he wasn't toeing the line on? Wack, off with his head?
If Senator Lugar is too Progressive for the Republican Party, State Treasurer Mourdock, his new tea party backed competitor, must really be strung up to sing in the puppet bazaar. What new heights of hippocracy will he be advancing?
Will Mourdock not only endorse the "War on Women", but seek to remove their equality in the workplace? Will he remove the poor from any federal aid for the sake of his rich benefactors and the tax relief they hired him to endorse? Will he not only seek to stop the union abilities to negotiate their wages and benefits and safety requirements, but to toss them out of work, so that his venture capitalist cronies can purchase up even more underwater homes and properties for the next round of building opportunities with a labor force at minimum wage? Certainly, he endorses the Ryan Plan, which does all these things.
When will Regressive be enough to swing your vote to a different party in order to lower the power being amassed by Rove and his "American Crossroads Pac", supported by the Chamber of Commerce and possibly foreign corporations anonymously?
Will the Republican Party be regressive enough when The Koch Brothers' Heritage Foundation pushes for support of more laws that will increase the number of 1 out of 5 children that go to bed hungry now to 1 out of 4, in order to get more tax breaks on his pipeline properties they have been buying up for years in the expectation of the XL pipeline profits to come from land sales?
Will you continue to endorse Mitt Romney's Bain Capitalists, who shut down profitable American companies like Maytag, because they saw profits going into the employee's pockets instead of the profit margin? Bain Capital and Mitt Romney shut them down, closed their doors and shipped the jobs to China.
And if you entertain putting Mitt in the White House make sure you know Mitt. What are his "Core Values"? Do you know? Can you tell anything about him except for what he has accomplished by sending American jobs overseas? When you shop at Staples, will you wonder how many Chinese workers are making fair wages to create the products you pay so little for due to Mitt Romney and his associates' tactics of sending the jobs away from our communities so they can line their pockets while you can't find a job here in America?
Will you support AT&T and Republican-endorsed ALEC, who have pushed more than 17 states to adopt the legislation written by them in the form of "Stand Your Ground Laws" that the NRA, Coke, Pepsi and Century 21 and the banks endorsed?
Republicans support the Voter Restriction laws (drafted by ALEC) in the states currently under their control.
Republicans lead the fight against women's rights to choose how big a family to have by opposing contraception and access to affordable healthcare?
When your grandmother cannot vote because she can't afford the $200 bucks to get the proper credentials enabling her to vote, will that be enough to make you stop supporting the Republican power grab in progress in front of your eyes? Republicans show no shame of what they are doing to turn this democracy upon its head.
Republicans are racing to see who has the most draconian stands against the poor for the profits of the rich.
If regressive Republicans continue to block democratic ideas to improve our rail system, block the bills that would create the jobs for the repairs of our interstates, bridges, dams and levis for the sake of "less government" why do you continue to support them? When you endorse Republican goals of less taxes for the Corporation owners and more war, balanced by more taxes on the poor and middle classes, you vote to diminish our country of, by, and for the People.
Which Corporation will rebuild those bridges without profit in mind? Do you think you will have to pay tolls? Of course you will. When you remove the power and the support of the Federal government to support our nation's infrastructure needs, you are voting for this nation's demise. If you are putting your tally down for Republicans because you believe it doesn't matter who wins if the world is ending in December, maybe you are the problem.
Don't blame the Democrats for your ineptitude. Obama didn't create this mess. Republicans, with the goal of putting the same Foreign Affairs team Bush employed back to work for Romney, will only return us to the same unfunded wars they created last time. Republicans have opposed infrastructure programs while millions of construction workers are out of work. When you vote in the next election, think of the soldiers you may be able to save by voting Democratically. Think about it. It's free to think. Won't cost you a red cent, unless your buddies find out you are really a rational person and they back away from you because you are no longer any fun......
Ike was not your Regular Republican. He saw first hand who was doing all the dieing for the USA.He was a man of honor.
If the 1% have as much wealth as 90% of the population, why do they need more wealth before they can create any jobs?
That's what people have been asking. If the wealthy won't create jobs if we tax them more, then where are all the jobs that they are creating now? It's circular reasoning that the GOP has decided to try. I believe the good people of Indiana can see right through this GOP blather.
Why should they create jobs? Because you want them to? The Government makes it so difficult to create private sector jobs, that those with money are not willing to risk it.
So by that logic Jeez, the lack of jobs in America have NOTHING to do with the following:
For you libs that didn't take economic classes in college or were sleeping in them, you really should try reading or watching things other than NBC/CNN/NY Times
babysonboomboom....youre a small minded ignorant baffoon of an idiot.....as far as these two candidates....2 richards goin at it !!!!!! and for all you american taliban tea supposed party baggers.....tea parties are for little girls with imaginary friends.....you and your band of sociapathic corporate treasonist thugs are just slitting their own fraudulent phony throats.....and that masoginist fat rat clown of a loser limp lushball thinks he can get away with acting like a retarded juvenile.....keep sticking your foot in your mouth dou..b.g !!!!!!!!
OBAMA 2012 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a simple Indiana IQ test. Mourdock wants to take things back to 1950, opposed the auto bailout which kept 1000's employed as well as countless parts providers in Indiana. Those who support this radical support dismantling out economic infrastructure. Lugar has not let the people of his state down so keep him in place, but not this Phyllis Schafley supported NRA clown.
It's worse than that. The teabaggers are in favor of bigger government in your bedroom. In many states they have passed laws requiring women to undergo trans vaginal probes to get an abortion. In other states they are attempting to limit sales of contraceptives. Teabaggers are no different tahn the Nazi party.
To be fair, no state has actually passed a law requiring trans vaginal probes. The Republicans tried to here in Virginia, but failed.
William,
Indiana is a very racist state (it's where the KKK found a home and saw it's greatest expansion), they will vote for whoever shares their hate, and that's the Teabag Party.
A racist state which voted for a black president?
The Republicans want to probe women before they do anything medically for them. It's sound a little bit sick to me. Do they want to watch as well? That is Middle East medicine. Every hear of circumcision for women?