That’s the headline Bill Kristol gives to this Politico report:
The Young Guns Network, a group affiliated with two former aides to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, paid more than $100,000 in mail costs to help embattled Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, federal filings show.The expenditure showed up in a 24-hour notice, and show the payout was $104,628 for “mailers,” paid to a group called Creative Direct LLC.A senior adviser to YG Network, Brad Dayspring, didn’t immediately respond to an email.But the establishment has been rallying to Lugar’s side as he runs in a tight primary race against state treasurer Richard Mourdock.
Kristol goes on to note;
“Young Guns … was designed to help leaders like Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy chart a new course for the center-right movement and the House majority,” Young Guns Action Fund super PAC founder John Murray has said. It’s not clear how this donation to Lugar furthers that cause. And it’s not clear why Young Guns is meddling in a GOP Senate primary. Indeed, Mike Pence, another young gun-type House member who’s now running for Indiana governor, has conspicuously failed to endorse Lugar for reelection.More important: $100,000 could go a long way to supporting a Republican against a Democrat this year in a competitive House race. Is helping a six-term Senate incumbent who’s not so conservative try to beat back a conservative primary challenge by someone who would hold the Senate seat for the GOP really the best use of that money? Is it the use donors to Young Guns expected? And if Lugar loses (as many expect), won’t this expenditure be particularly embarrassing?
I’ve heard as yet unconfirmed reports that a new poll shows that Mourdock has taken a lead over Lugar.
Lugar is in trouble, and his desperation is joined, unfortunately, by the Republican leadership in Washington.
You can support Mourdock here. We’re on the cusp of a great upset in Indiana. Don’t waste the opportunity.
Update: Here’s the poll:
Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar has fallen behind state Treasurer Richard Mourdock by five points, according to a new poll released exclusively to POLITICO.The survey, taken Tuesday and Wednesday by Wenzel Strategies on behalf of Citizens United, places Mourdock at 44 percent and Lugar at 39 percent. Nearly 17 percent remain undecided with just 12 days to go until the Indiana Senate primary…. In mid-March, a Wenzel survey showed Lugar clinging to just a 6-point advantage.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY