Senator Dick Lugar’s campaign claims to be leading challenger Richard Mourdock in early-voting ballots. An e-mail from Lugar’s campaign relates:
The Indy Politics “Cheat Sheet” reports that it “has done some checking and got some insight on early absentee voting results. So far about 12,000 ballots have been processed about 32% are identified Lugar supporters, 19% are for Mourdock.” That would give Lugar a 13-point early vote advantage among voters who have identified a candidate preference. This directly undermines a myth promoted by Mourdock that his campaign enjoys locally-based grassroots support that can translate to voter turnout while reinforcing the idea that DC-based interest groups cannot supplant a real GOTV operation.