RINO Defeated! Lugar Loses GOP US Senate Primary Challenge in Indiana

Richard Lugar, the longest-serving US Senator in Indiana history, has worn out his welcome with his own party. Indiana Republican voters chise his challenger, former Indiana treasurer, Richard Murdoch, as the GOP candidate for Lugar's now vacant seat:



(CBS News) Sen. Richard Lugar - the longest-serving senator in Indiana history - has lost his Republican Senate primary on Tuesday to state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.


The 80-year-old senator congratulated Mourdock in brief remarks to supporters Tuesday night and said he hoped his primary rival would win in November.



Lugar's exit from the Senate could contribute to the further polarization of an already bitterly-divided Congress.


Lugar has served in the Senate since 1976. The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he is known for his extensive work on crafting bipartisan foreign policy, which has included reaching across the aisle to pass legislation with Democrat Sam Nunn to disarm nuclear warheads in the former Soviet Union. Lugar's willingness to work with Democrats made him a target: Mourdock ran ads showing President Obama discussing reaching out to Lugar as evidence that the six-term senator should be defeated.


In his remarks Tuesday evening, Lugar said he believes "our political system still can work."

"I believe that people of goodwill, regardless of party, can work together for the benefit of our country," he added.



The 60-year-old Mourdock, who told the New York Times it is "time for confrontation" as opposed to collegiality, also criticized Lugar for supporting the financial bailout, President Obama's Supreme Court nominees and raising the debt limit. His message was amplified by the Tea Party-aligned FreedomWorks, which held "activist training" sessions and made phone calls on Mourdock's behalf, and the super PAC Club for Growth, which spent more than $1.4 million on the race. (Lugar's campaign, which had spent $6.7 million on the race as of April, did significantly outspend Mourdock's, which had spent $2 million as of April.)



Mourdock and his allies also spotlighted the fact that Lugar no longer seemed to live in the state that he represents: In March, he was declared ineligible to vote in his home precinct, having effectively moved his family to suburban Washington in 1977 after selling his house in Indiana.



They also argued that despite his lifetime rating of 77 out of 100 from the American Conservative Union - a rating that reflects a relatively conservative voting record - Lugar had drifted to the left of the conservative Indiana Republican electorate.


The race was being closely watched in the Senate, where it was taken as the latest sign that cooperation across the aisle may well result in defeat. The 2010 midterm elections resulted in the defeat of Utah Sen. Robert Bennett, who had a similar reputation to that of Lugar, at the hands of Tea Party activists.


Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Lugar's loss "a tragedy for the Senate."

"This is a tough period in American politics, but I'd like to think that we'll again see a United States Senate where Dick Lugar's brand of thoughtful, mature, and bi-partisan work is respected and rewarded," he said. "That kind of seriousness of purpose should never go out of fashion."

Added President Obama in a statement: "While Dick and I didn't always agree on everything, I found during my time in the Senate that he was often willing to reach across the aisle and get things done."


Other Democrats celebrated Mourdock's victory, which they said would put the seat up for grabs. (One Democratic poll in March showed The Democratic candidate, Rep. Joe Donnelly, leading Mourdock in a head-to-head race.) Republican need a net gain of four seats to take control of the Senate, and they are expected to at least come close to doing so. Donnelly, a conservative Democrat, supports gun rights and the Keystone pipeline and opposes abortion rights and climate change legislation.



"Tonight's results make the Indiana Senate race a toss-up race," said Guy Cecil, Executive Director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.



Brian Montopoli Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.



http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_...ses-primary-to-tea-party-challenger-mourdock/


Looks like we Indiana conservatives are SERIOUS about booting out the RINOs; how about the REST OF YOU?

 

Good riddance to that piece of human debris.

 

http://www.politicalforum.com/current-events/246840-r-indiana-sen-dick-lugar-finished.html

 

Nice enough guy; just absolutely SPINELESS, politically...

 

It's no longer a question, is it?

Desperate for attention?

 

good news.

 

Just shows how far-right the GOP is becoming.

 

Yes, they don't vote for democrats in republican clothing.

 

Naaah ... in fact let me help you out on your precious thread ...

 

Leftists bemoaning Lugar's defeat just shows us how right we are in tossing him. We DON'T WANT yahoos trying to "get along" with Leftninny numbskulls onthe Hill,and their hairbrained ideas.

We are seeking ACTUAL conservatives....not the cheap imitation kind the Left wants us to have...

 

No help needed; I helped MYSELF, by VOTING AGAINST LUGAR THIS MORNING, more than ANYTHING you coul do....

 

As a member of the TEA Party... I say! Sweeet... who else can we toss out?

 

Richard is way too conservative to fit into our party. He's about as Democrat as Ronald Reagan or Abraham Lincoln.

 

Lugar had great foreign policy experience but has lost touch with Indiana and it shows with the vote.

 

anymore....

 

Why would that matter to you Che?

He needed to go, as well as many other incumbents. Read the news lately?

When the Dems go as far left as they have.....what do you expect?

 

Let's toss out anybody who isn't a far-right extremist and anyone who's committed to actually working with the other side to help pass legislation!

 

Is Olympia Snowe still in the Senate?

 

Lost touch?

He didn't even live there anymore.

Lost touch?

Really?

 

Well, Duce, it matters for anyone who doesn't want our government turning into some sort of right wing nightmare. Democrats are actually very conservative.

 

The "other side" is headed for a HISTORIC ass-whuppin' in November. Lugar's LANDLSIDE DEFEAT (20+%), was just the advance warning.

Get ready...it's coming...

 

ROFL

No need for a dissertation on that one.

 

Which is why they want to make a "hero" out of a pedophile gay mayor of San Fransisco, to SCHOOL CHILDREN...all that "conservatism"...

 

I think you avatar says it quite well!

 

Yes, just what we need, more "traditional values" being crammed down our throats. Talk about big brother.

And more favoritism to giant multinational corporations, yay, low tax rates for anybody who makes millions!!