There is a prime opportunity in the Indiana Republican primary to elect a solid conservative, Richard Mourdock, and to retire Obama’s favorite Republican, Richard Lugar, who has an abysmal voting record.
I will be supporting Mourdock, and I hope you will help with this important race.
I first wrote about Mourdock back in November. Since that time I have had a chance to do further research, which has confirmed both that Luger must go, and that Mourdock is the right person to replace Lugar.
I had a long conversation with Mourdock a couple of weeks ago, and he was kind enough to shoot this video for Legal Insurrection readers:
Mourdock has received the endorsements of a wide variety of conservative and Tea Party groups and individuals, including the Indiana Tea Party, FreedomWorks, Club for Growth, Mark Levin, and many others.
In spotlighting Mourdock as one of three Tea Party hot shots for the Senate, Michelle Malkin pointed out:
Richard Mourdock, Indiana’s former state treasurer, offers a fresh alternative with widespread support from both grass-roots activists and local and state GOP officials. While others hedged their bets, Mourdock took the federal auto bailout head on, lodging a court complaint against the Chrysler bailout to expose its illegal abuse of shareholders and punitive impact on Indiana citizens. He was elected to the treasurer’s office in 2006, a tough year for Republicans, and was re-elected handily in 2010. Before politics, he worked in the private sector for 30 years managing businesses in the energy, environmental and construction industries. He’s never had a Beltway zip code.
Perhaps the best endorsement comes from Think Progress, which is worried about Mourdock:
If [Dick] Armey and his allies succeed in electing these and other far-right conservatives to Congress, the legislative wall would continue to block progress.
Not surprisingly, Lugar is using scare tactics, claiming the seat will be lost to Democrats if Lugar is not the nominee. That’s nonsense.
Indiana is a solid Republican state, and it was a historical fluke that it voted for Obama in 2008. The likely Democratic nominee, Congressman Joe Donnelly, is a weak candidate who only is running for Senate because he was redistricted. In my conversation with Mourdock, Mourdock pointed out that in the last election, when Mourdock was running for State Treasurer, Mourdock received more votes in Donnelly’s district than Donnelly received.
Lugar has more money, a result of his senior Senate position, and has launched a petty negative TV campaign trying to paint Mourdock as unserious, a typical attack when the establishment wants to marginalize Tea Party supported candidates:
If Lugar survives, his campaign will become the playbook for incumbents anxious to avoid the folly of fallen colleagues who never saw the tea party train coming. The rough sketch: Lock up all the money in the state early, shift to the right, wage a modern campaign and hit your opponent before he can define himself.
Mourdock has responded:
Mourdock’s strength is that he has boots on the ground to help to fight against Lugar’s bankroll:
A collection of groups affiliated with the conservative Tea Party movement have banded behind state treasurer Richard Mourdock in the first Republican primary challenge Lugar has ever faced. Democrats, sensing vulnerability, also are taking him on in his first general election challenge since 2000.The Lugar race is seen nationally as an important test of the viability of the Tea Party, which some believe has lost momentum since a populist surge in 2010.With $4 million in the bank, Lugar holds a 10-to-1 fundraising advantage over his Republican challenger. But the Tea Party groups hope to overcome the financial disadvantage by using 5,000 volunteers to muster a massive get-out-the-vote campaign.
But let’s not kid ourselves, we know what can happen when the heavily funded establishment candidate floods the airwaves with negative ads against an insurgent. We cannot let this happen, and lose the chance to elect a conservative to replace Barack Obama’s favorite Senator.
I urge you to contribute to Mourdock’s campaign.
Let’s not lose this opportunity to chalk up a win for Operation Counterweight.
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