Tea Party candidate defeats Dick Lugar

Figured this was worth its own thread, as this Indiana seat in the U.S. Senate is now up for grabs for the first time in a generation:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120509/NEWS05/120509035/Gov-Daniels-GOP-Senate-nominee-Mourdock-Let-party-healing-begin?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|IndyStar.com

Should be interesting to see how the Donnelly-Mourdock race stands once the first reliable polling starts coming out. I suspect it'll be really competitive.

 

The guy is 80-years-old, hasn't lived in the state for years (and basically committed fraud to register his driver's license at the address of his former home), and is a centrist in a party that has moved to the right.

Not a big surprise.

His venom is what's surprising. These guys really don't like to lose -- or give up the privileges they've grown accustomed to.

Good riddance. You stayed too long.

 

But how viable is Mourdock in the general, particularly if the Indiana voters simply cast a vote AGAINST Lugar, and not necessarily FOR Mourdock?

 

In six years, whatever the ultra-right of the GOP is called (Goldwaterbugs? Robert E. Buckleys?) will think Mourdock is too liberal and toss him out too.

 

You mean is this Delaware all over again? Probably... Maybe Lugar will run as an independent a la Lieberman.

 

I don't think so. I never thought O'Donnell could win a general. Mourdock is not O'Donnell. He's got legitimate credentials as state treasurer. Plus, it's a traditionally red state to begin with.

 

That's a good point.

 

Lugar already said he wasn't running independently.

 

Joe Donnelly, Mourdock's Democratic opponent, is closer to Joe Manchin and Joe Lieberman in terms of outlook, like how Mourdock is closer to Joe McCarthy.

The scariest thing is Mourdock wants to see Congress run like the Indiana Statehouse, which means that Republicans get a big majority, bully anymore who doesn't think their way, thus inspiring Democrats to walk out, and basically disenfranchising anyone on the minority side. That was a Statehouse that makes the current Congress look like the center of cooperation and effectiveness.

 

If the Tea Party is going to do stuff like put a safe seat up for grabs, it needs to be a third party and not make a pretense of having the GOP's interests at heart. Doing it in Utah, where there was no risk for the GOP (other then to raise giggles about painting Orrin Hatch as being too liberal), was cute, but it had a body count for the GOP in Delaware and it could be repeated in Indiana.

 

He can't run independently. They have a sore loser law in Indiana.

 

I think the reason some of my Hoosier homies were so nervous about Lugar losing to this dope is that that dope, while he has lost more elections that he's won, is the sitting state treasurer. So he's no Christine O'Donnell.

But, yeah, this has gone from the safest of safe seats for Republicans to something that is legitimately in play.