If Indiana tea partiers have their way, Republican Dick Lugar is entering the twilight of his Senate years.
“For the last couple of years, his voting record has gotten progressively more liberal and more progressive. We’ve reached out to him. We’ve met with him. We’ve gone with all the motions and realized that there’s really no changing his mind on those voting issues,” says Monica Boyer, co-leader of Hoosiers for Conservative Senate, a new group focused on uniting conservatives around a primary challenger to Lugar.
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Lugar’s active support for the DREAM Act, his backing of the New START treaty, and his votes to confirm Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan have soured many Indiana conservatives on the longtime senator, who was first elected in 1976.
“In Indiana, I don’t think we feel comfortable with Obama referring to Richard Lugar as his favorite Republican senator. That’s not a title that I want my senator to have,” says Craig Dunn, chairman of the Howard County GOP and a former campaigner for Lugar.
Dunn also doesn’t like how little time Lugar has spent visiting Indiana towns in recent years. “I’ve not seen my senator in four and a half years. He’s not been in our community at all.”
So far, only two names have been widely bandied about as possible Lugar challengers: state treasurer Richard Mourdock and state senator Mike Delph. Delph has made no formal announcement but appears to be weighing a run. Mourdock formally announced his run in late February, and his candidacy is backed by 74 percent of Indiana GOP county chairmen.
“It’s all about [the chairmen’s] dissatisfaction with the fact that Mr. Lugar hasn’t been around the state much,” Mourdock tells National Review Online. “He hasn’t been present, and certainly his agenda is moving more and more towards the Obama administration than traditional Republican thinking.”
Mourdock, who was reelected as state treasurer in November, is popular in Indiana; he won more votes than any other state candidate in the past election. The former businessman and county commissioner gained national attention in 2009 when he filed a lawsuit objecting to the terms of the government-arranged Chrysler bankruptcy. The bankruptcy violated the norm of giving priority to creditors who hold secured debt (such as the Indiana pension funds, which lost $5.6 million) over those with unsecured debt (such as the United Auto Workers). Mourdock also argued that it had been unconstitutional for the government to use TARP funds to bail out the auto companies.
Delph is best known for his efforts on immigration reform. “He’s been the point man on that for the last three, maybe four years, and that’s certainly gotten him a lot of publicity,” says Ed Feigenbaum, an Indiana political analyst. Right now, Delph is pushing for a law similar to Arizona’s controversial SB 1070.
Either man would face an uphill battle against Lugar, who has won his seat by 35 percentage points or more since 1988. In 2006, the year that Democrats swept e congressional elections, no Democrat even ran against Lugar. In addition, Lugar has raised over $2.3 million and had, as of a November poll he commissioned, a 66 percent approval rating.
As Lugar’s approval ratings show, there’s no clear statewide momentum yet to oust the senator, something Hoosiers for Conservative Senate is working to change. “The senator is beloved around the state and around the nation. We are right now focusing on educating Hoosiers about his actual voting record, showing that he is not as conservative as he says that he is,” says Boyer.
"...He firmly believes that he is a Republican and the majority of Republicans and the majority of Hoosiers believe the way that he does,” Feigenbaum says.
That is an "un-truth"!
On Iraq -
On June 25, 2007, Senator Lugar said that "Bush's Iraq strategy [is] not working and... the U.S. should downsize the military's role." External Link
START Treaty -
Gave intelligence information about British nuclear secrets to the Russian governemt (over British objections) to oil the passage of the treaty. Joins Obama in stabbing our ally in the back once again. (Lugar could have pulled the plug on the betrayal, but chose to support the treaty instead of our ally).
Supported not only the DREAM Act, but the McCain-Kennedy Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill as well.
Cuba -
Against sanctions.
Abortion -
Fair, but fair from ideal. (40% NARAL and NRLC 85% ratings)
I'm sorry Mr. Feigenbaum; folks in Indiana are looking for an alternative because your man doesn't visit his constituents anymore and has turned his back on hoosier values. Lugar has lost my vote.
Agree with you Steve. As a former Indiana resident, I can understand Lugar's support for amnesty. It benefits Red Gold. They pay next to nothing for the illegal labor, and the citizens get to pick up the tab at Wishard when they need medical care.
I lived in Little Mexico, the US 40 corridor just West of downtown that has most signage now in Spanish only.
Personally, I don't see Sen. Lugar's positions as primarily liberal or conservative. They reflect more his comfort with any agenda that preserves his position and that of the established Republican old guard (known around here as the "Country Club Republicans").
Those Country Club Republicans have embodied the absolute worst caricatures of the party for as long as I can remember. Their reaction to any policy is how to protect their own bottom line, the cost to the country or the community be d*mned. If that means the Dems are in charge, they're perfectly happy with living off the scraps from their table while the rest of us starve.
Lugar has turned into a RINO and the Republican Party should 'weed' the garden of RINOS ASAP, starting with Lugar, and then moving on to McCain and Lindsey Graham, Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe,Susan Collins, etc., etc., et..
Steve -- to be fair, the Feigenbaum comment was about what Lugar believes. Lugar may actually believe himself to be conservative. Hanging around with people who are even more liberal could have that effect. And Lugar may believe his views are shared by most Hoosiers. We have some liberals here, and I imagine it's easier to get a meeting with Lugar if you want to help him with his agenda. If he had spent more time here recently, he'd probably realize he's wrong about us. That's another reason why he must go.
I'm not impressed with Dan Coats, either, but you can only vote for people who actually run.
Conservative enough or not is not the issue. 36 years is long enough and the possible GOP replacements are conservative enough. The things Lugar loves he can continue to work on from a University or a think tank.
I hear and respect what you are saying. But consider this about Feigenbaum's statement. Both Feigenbaum and Lugar are still incorrect if they "believe" Lugar reflects the views of his voters.
It isn't a matter of getting a meeting with Lugar if one agrees with Lugar's agenda - most of our county chairs haven't seen the man in years! The fact that Lugar starts out with 3/4s of his county chairs opposed to him is telling. Not mentioned by the author is the noteworthy point that the state's republican committee won't be supporting Lugar either.
He has to realize that he's avoided his constituents, as well as going against his party on several key votes.
You are correct that you can only vote for who runs. The dems didn't challenge Lugar the last go-around, and I think it went to Lugar's head. (He's been poor for years, but has veered sharply away from conservative votes in the senate in just the last two years).
I would take a dozen Coats over Lugar anyday. (I've voted for Coats. When Lugar last ran, I left his ballot spot blank).
It is too bad that so many of these so-called 'public servants' refuse to acknowledge that it's past time to step aside and let some new blood take over. We need FRESH ideas - not the same-old same-old!!! Far too many career politicians FORGET their primary duty is to serve their constituents and recognize their concerns.
Time to retire with a little class, Senator. It is quite audacious for you to believe the seat belongs to you...it belongs to the people of Indiana!!!!
I hope the conservatives in Indiana are successful in replacing this Republican In Name Only!
As for the gentleman who first used the phrase mentioned above, at this time I'd just as soon have a Democrat representing us in the Senate than to have a RINO. At least then I wouldn't be so disappointed when the votes are cast for such things as the HORRIBLE Dodd/Frank bill, the START Treaty or repeal of DADT.
Senator Lugar is now on the List. We all know what the List consists of. RINO's who need to be replaced. Olympia Snow, Murkowski and a half dozen more.......gone!
Lugar needs to go, or run as a democrat. Praise from BO shows he is now only a creature of DC, not a representative of his state or the American promise of individual liberty. Start treaty was the final insult to the country and his state for this Hoosier Voter!
Senator Lugar is a good example of why we need term limits. He has held this office since 1976! Nobody is that good that they should stay in the same office this long.
He was a fine senator,,,,,, in the 1970's and into the early 1980's when he was more conservative. He should have LEFT office about 1987!
For some reason the longer one is in Washington DC the more liberal one gets. Lugar has gone the wrong way on too many things. The lack of getting around the state is troubling too, further insulating himself from the voters. As a voter of Indiana I would like a change.
The career politician is a bad idea for both parties not just the Democrats. We got rid of one Senator (Bayh, he finally retired) that didn't reflect our state very well, its time for the other one to go too. The founding fathers never intended anyone to hold office for a lifetime.
Its time for Senator Lugar to announce his retirement.
Yes, it's a shame that so many politicians in both parties don't know when to leave the stage. They end up like a bad vaudeville act where the stage hands have to break out the hook that comes from off stage to drag them out of the limelight, that is if the grim reaper doesn't do it first (e.g. Robert Byrd). They must fall in love with the lifestyle to the extent that it blinds their ability to see what is going on around them.
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