In Indiana, Sen. Dick Lugar's Political Career Put On Ice At Age 80
Can anyone believe that the Tea Party is just an "astro-turf" political/cultural movement that has outlived its time in the functional protest limelight?
Tonight, Senator Dick Lugar doesn't think so. After 6, six-year terms, and running for a 7th, lost the ability to represent the Republican political party for one of the State of Indiana's two federal Senatorial seats. He was swept aside by a challenge from Richard Mourdock.
Richard Mourdock had a successful 30 year career in the private sector, managing businesses in the energy, environmental and construction industries. He also served two terms as County Commissioner of Vanderburgh County.
Mourdock became a viable challenger for the Senate seat after he proved as Indiana’s State Treasurer that he had been an integral part of the state’s fiscal health. His leadership earned over $1 billion in investment income for taxpayers and successfully expanded the state’s college savings plan. At the same time, his office has returned an average of 10% of his budget back to the Treasury each year.
Richard Mourdock also became known nation-wide for leading the legal fight to challenge the Obama Administration’s illegal bailout and takeover of Chrysler. Richard took this case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Indiana pensioners. Further, his conservative message of constitutionally limited government was heard by over one million people in attendance during the Glenn Beck promoted 9-12 March on Washington in 2009.
So what has current Senator Dick Lugar done to gain the positive attention of the Tea Party activists throughout Indiana? Well, he spent his last full day on the stump defending earmarks, touting that he won over a pair of voters who saw him as the “least worst of the two” and pinning his hopes on the unlikely scenario that Democrats and independents will turn out in higher-than-expected numbers to hand him a victory.
Mourdock was endorsed by Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, and Lugar had the backing of the party establishment, including Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
To be honest, we at MAXINE believe, no human should be allowed to hold any office, elected, or otherwise, past the age of 70 years old. Senator Dick Lugar is 80 years old and was hoping to be able to occupy the office for another six years!
Lugar, known as one of the more centrist members of the Senate, was befriended by Barack Obama during his time in the Senate. Obama touted the friendship during his 2008 campaign for president, angering some of Lugar’s constituents.
The Senate’s longest-serving Republican, Lugar also suffered a blow earlier this year when a panel in Indiana ruled that he was ineligible to vote in his former home district because he no longer lived there.
I guess we will just have to say, Dick Lugar's political career, tonight, has been put on ice.
The real trick now that the Tea Party has brought down one of the centrist stalwarts of the Senate, long seen as a Republican not holding strongly to fiscal and constitutional matters, can they carry this momentum forward to the general election against Democrat political party Rep. Joe Donnelly, a three-term congressman from the South Bend area, this fall. The matchup is a preferred outcome for Democrats, who view Lugar’s ouster as an opportunity to pick up a longtime Republican seat.
This contest will show if the Tea Party is dormant or if the protest movement has just moved from demonstrating in front of City Halls to electing Conservative answer based, solutions-oriented representatives to bring America back to its citizens and not the political class who have given us all a 16 Trillion dollar debt.
** Article first published as In Indiana, Sen. Dick Lugar's Political Career Put On Ice At Age 80 on Technorati **
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