Posted on 05/07/2012 5:43:31 AM PDT by cotton1706
ANDERSON, Ind. — Just days before his first competitive election since Gerald Ford was president, Dick Lugar is standing before a municipal power plant here extolling the value of his international Rolodex — a list he boasts is longer than that of “any other public servant in Congress.”
“We have, because of the years gone by, at least two world leaders coming through our office every week,” the six-term Republican senator told the small gathering of local energy leaders Friday afternoon in this county seat 40 miles northwest of Indianapolis. “Why does that make a difference? It makes a whole lot of difference. If you have a problem in Anderson or Pendleton, sometimes we can’t solve it domestically.”
To political operatives and observers, the pitch is emblematic of why Lugar is on the verge of becoming just the sixth GOP senator in more than 30 years to be toppled in a primary.
The 36-year incumbent — twice chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — appears out of sync with the prevailing issues of the day, careening between messages and naively shunning engagement with his insurgent opponent on the stump.
“His team approached it like it was a regular, circa-1995 environment,” said a Senate race strategist familiar with Indiana politics. “Ignore your opponent. If it gets close, you smack. But when he finally engaged, it looked desperate.”
Lugar’s closing argument to stave off surging Richard Mourdock — a two-term state treasurer backed by the tea party — has reeked of anguish.
As he relayed the gloomy results of the latest poll of the race — showing him down a staggering 10 percentage points — he acknowledged that “the press came … to have sort of a mourning or an obituary.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
“We’re asking for independents. We’re asking for Democrats. We’re asking for unknowns. All of the above, everybody,” he implored, tacitly acknowledging victory among an overwhelmingly Republican electorate was elusive.
“You need to be prepared to decapitate someone as soon as possible. Follow the John McCain model, not the Bob Bennett model,” said the Senate race strategist.
Pendleton town President Don Henderson, a longtime supporter who worked on Lugar’s failed 1996 presidential campaign, recalled that advisers could never persuade the senator to attack President Bill Clinton directly.
Lugar also said he was counting on certain ethnic groups — Syrian and Burmese voters who had recently expressed their support — to help cut into Mourdock’s advantage among hard-core conservatives.
Unusual for Lugar to actually go to Indiana. He must be desperate.
He won’t go home after the election.
You can bet on that.
Just so all the RINO’s go to where they all retire forever.
Adios RINO!
He should sue somebody.
Obviously, quite telling in itself.
I glanced at a couple of random paragraphs just to confirm my opinions of both of them.
Next on the list: Orin Hatch. Time for that dinosaur to be sent to the La Brea tar pits.
Next on the list: Orin Hatch. Time for that dinosaur to be sent to the La Brea tar pits.
Lugardaemmerung.
Any politician whose strongest argument to the electorate is his “international rolodex” is toast.
There is a God. Now we have to work on Barry Hussein Soetoro.
“He won’t go home after the election.
You can bet on that.”
Dec. 2000 “Gore will never stop fighting for the people”
“As for what I’ll do next, I don’t know the answer to that one yet. Like many of you, I’m looking forward to spending the holidays with family and old friends. I know I’ll spend time in Tennessee and mend some fences, literally and figuratively.”
blah blah blah
Like Al, the only bet I’d make is that he plans to make a quick & gracious superannuated RINO concession speech, return to Wash DC (”All the charm of NYC and the efficiency of New Orleans”) ASAP and involve himself in some sort of lucrative lobbying scam, e.g. “global warming”.
I suspect it will have something to do with pushing the DREAM act. Here’s hoping as well that next month the SCOTUS throws cold water on those high-falutin’ `North American Union’ plans.
People here [Anderson, IN] seem much more interested in local races - even for Precinct Committeemen than they are for the Senate race. [There has been a very active push by tea party adherents to replace the old guard, and the old guard is very unhappy about it.]
It appears he listened to his GOP handlers about as much as he’s listened to his constituents. Thankfully, his sheer arrogance has worked in our favor for once! :)
I’ve seen exactly one Lugar sign and that was in a ditch beside the highway, not even in someone’s yard. Saw Mourdock commercials by CFG and the NRA running this weekend.
Sadly, my daughter is going to miss voting age by just a few months (we didn’t plan her very well, did we?) or Mourdock would be getting yet another vote. :)
I think Lugar signed his death warrant when asked about his upcoming primary fight responded by saying, “do they know who I am?” It spoke volumes and the people of Indiana listened. Add that to the residency issue and he was toast. All Mourdock had to do was show he was a reasonable alternative which as a two time State Treasurer was pretty easy.
“...Certain ethnic groups-Syrian and Burmese voters...” In Indiana? What the hell is THAT all about? Can there be THAT many? Guess I must be out of the loop or something.
Some here claimed if tossed, Lugar may go Third Party. No idea if true.
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