Richard Mourdock has been suggested by reader Listkeeper in the Tip Line as a possible Focus for his primary challenge to Richard Lugar. He has the backing of the Indiana Tea Party.
HuffPo says this is the only remaining Senate race where a Tea Party backed candidate has a chance or knocking off a Republican incumbent, but that he is struggling in fundraising and gaining traction. He did pick up a FreedomWorks endorsement in late October.
Questions: What do you know about him? How would he do in the general election against Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly?
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[…] Vote for the person who is the best match for your views, and work like a dog to get solid congressional representation in — as well as focusing on key local elections. Start now by getting to know the races; for example, Legal Insurrection is featuring an important Indiana race. […]
Whomever wins the GOP primary is going to win the general election. There are not enough motivated Democrats in IN to take the election. Donnelly doesn’t have the name recognition or crossover support that an Evan Bayh had.
Mourdock took a challenge of the Obama administration takeover of Chrysler to the Supreme Court on behalf of IN pensioners holdings of Chrysler bonds.
He had good limited government credentials. He is pro-life and pro-2nd amendment.
One thing in Mourdock’s favor regarding the primary is that Mike Pence is on the ticket for IN Governor. Pence will be getting out his base, which just happens to overlap perfectly with Mourdock.
Unlike many Indiana Conservatives, I am less than thrilled with Richard Mourdock’s candidacy to replace once-conservative Dick Lugar as U.S Senator.
As Indiana State Treasurer, Mr. Mourdock became famous for suing to prevent the Obama administration from reducing the rights of GM-Chrysler bond holders in the bankruptcies that settled the government bailouts of the U.S auto industry. Mr. Mourdock said he took the action to protect the investments made on behalf of Indiana government-administered pension funds in Chrysler bonds.
Mourdock will say that he fought the good fight but lost his appeal (and 71 cents on each investment dollar). What he doesn’t say is that the investment in Chrysler bonds was extremely risky — and he ignored the risk (for the promise of large returns) when approving the transactions. Indiana Democrats call Mourdock’s Chrysler investments “wild speculation and reckless” and I find this difficult to refute.
On the question of how well Mourdock would fare against Democrat Joe Donnelly, the question is mute. This is stuck-in-the-mud Indiana and Lugar will serve as long as he wants. Lugar has lots of money and he leads the polls.
Richard Lugar is awful as senator. I’m not in Indiana but if the Tea Party likes him, and, more importantly if Sarah Palin endorses him, let’s hope he wins.
I could say plenty that I and many other Hoosiers do not find appealing in regard to Senator Richard Lugar and his liberal leanings, but to keep it on the positive for Treasurer Richard Mourdock, here is why I will be volunteering hours and hours of my time to see that Mourdock is elected to the U.S. Senate:
1) Mourdock is committed to conservative values. He’ll vote for conservative justices, he knows the constitution inside and out, he believes the fed is much too large, and his votes and actions will be guided by conviction, constitutional know-how, and small government values. He is running on this platform and is not running from his record. Lugar will have to run from his record, and so will democrat Joe Donnelly.
2) Mourdock is committed to the ground forces. He’s been a staple at Republican Lincoln Day Dinners (for years and years now, way before many of us begged him to run for U.S. Senate), he’s helped local parties raise funds, he’s patient and gracious when doing so, and he doesn’t shy from TeaParties or other conservative gatherings. The constituency matters, and we need a senator who understands that.
3) He creates a strong contrast between our Grand Old Party and the liberal democrats, but doesn’t come across as angry when doing so. We desperately need bold leadership in Washington DC, and we need to be cautious of country club Republicans. Richard Mourdock is down to earth, and he uses that quality to express conservative ideas. Whether he is talking about domestic energy and the means of procuring it (Mourdock got his degree in geology), or whether it is the technical aspects of curbing our spending and national debt (as Treasurer, he has guided our state well as we invest and remain in the black), he has the experience and knowledge to bring sanity back to our national policies.
I humbly, but emphatically endorse Richard Mourdock for U.S. Senate. I sincerely hope that Legal Insurrection does the same.
@gad-fly Sir, that last point you make is wrong. He is not up in any of the polls. In fact, he can’t even get over 50% in his home county of Marion. Check your facts before you post garbage.
Gad-fly is confused on the underlying issues regarding the purchase of the Chrysler debt by the Indiana State Police Pension fund.
In the course of a bankruptcy and re-organization, the purchase of debt as an investment is not “wild speculation and reckless”, as long as Government upholds the rules of the game.
The Indiana State Police Pension Fund bought the Chrysler investment at a discount and factored in the liquidation value of the investment in a “normal” bankruptcy. The problem came about when Government changed the rules.
This intervention of Government was a violation of the law for the clear purpose of preventing secured creditors like the Fund from being paid first, before any other creditors were paid (i.e., the unions).
This unprecedented violation of established US bankruptcy law could not have been anticipated at the time the debt was purchased.
Regarding risk, the Pension Fund is a $350 million dollar fund that is actually managed very conservatively as compared with other pension funds.
It’s composition is majority bonds rather than stock. The Pension Fund managed to earn almost 20% return in FY 2011. See the report for yourself at
http://www.in.gov/tos/files/11-10-19_-_Treasurer_Mourdock_Releases_Fiscal_Year_2011_Annual_Report.pdf
and at http://www.in.gov/tos/files/20111026113043006.pdf
Most of the people who comment on the Chrysler case have not done the homework to discover what actually happened.
The bottom line is that the financial health of our economy depends upon the integrity of Government to uphold the law. When Government changes the rules at will, either to dispense political favor or for any other reason, then Government creates an economic climate where any and every investment becomes “wild speculation and reckless.”
It is the disregard for the law that characterizes third-world countries, and it’s what keeps them that way.
See the article in Harvard Business Review: Are Courts Becoming Less Friendly to Distress Investors?
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2010/05/01/trend-spotting-%E2%80%94-are-courts-becoming-less-friendly-to-distress-investors/