Richard Mourdock is up on the air in Indiana with a new television ad, hitting his GOP Senate primary rival Senator Dick Lugar as “Barack Obama’s favorite Republican.”
https://youtube.com/watch?v=2p1i_Fu6HRM
This morning Brian Bolduc has a look at the upcoming primary, and Lugar’s increasingly ferocious — and at times inaccurate — attacks on his rival:
In addition, an American Action Network ad, “Problems,” claims that Mourdock’s “big bet on junk bonds” drained millions from state pension funds. FactCheck.org notes: “It’s true that three state funds that purchased Chrysler debt in 2008 lost money when that company went through bankruptcy in 2009. But Mourdock didn’t oversee the investments of the Indiana Teacher’s Retirement Fund, which is the only one that actually lost ‘millions’” What’s more, junk bonds make up 3.3 percent of the state’s portfolio. And since Mourdock took office in 2007, “he has earned over $1.3 billion in investment income on the state’s cash,” the Mourdock campaign says.
Finally, Lugar’s campaign has alleged that Mourdock missed more than two-thirds of the state Board of Finance meetings. That’s technically true, but 99 percent of the time, Mourdock has either attended or a senior staffer has represented him at the meeting, his campaign says.
Thus far, Lugar’s charges against Mourdock are making up in volume what they lack in strength. The desperate nature of the attacks — and their profusion — indicates that this primary race will be close.
The primary is May 8.
UPDATE: The American Action Network, a group founded by Norm Coleman, a former Republican senator from Minnesota, and Rob Collins, a former chief of staff to House minority whip Eric Cantor, is going up on the air this morning with an ad hitting Mourdock that can be found here.