Mourdock Ad Hits Lugar For Being "Obama's Favorite Republican"

Sen. Richard Lugar is airing ads trying to convince Hoosier voters that he's doing his best to fight the policies of President Barack Obama in Washington, while his Republican primary opponent, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, is trying to convince them he's Obama's favorite Republican. Lugar, who has a large campaign war chest, will air his ads statewide, while Mourdock's media buy is very small and will only air a few times on cable news channels. The Star's Maureen Groppe writes of the dualing ads:

Mourdock's ad repeats his main argument against Lugar -- that he isn't conservative enough. The ad cites several of Lugar's votes, including those for Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan; for the 2008 financial bailout; and to raise the limit on U.S. borrowing authority.

"No wonder he's called 'Obama's favorite Republican,' " the ad says . . .

Lugar was among a minority of Republicans who voted for Obama's Supreme Court nominees. But his vote in August to raise the debt ceiling, which Obama signed into law, was in line with a majority of his GOP colleagues. And most Republicans also voted for the 2008 financial bailout, which Republican President George W. Bush signed into law.

Most recently, Lugar voted with Obama on 62 percent of the 89 Senate votes for which the president took a clear position last year, according to Congressional Quarterly, a nonpartisan publication that has been tracking vote statistics since 1953. Senate Republicans as a group voted with Obama an average of 53 percent of the time last year . . .

Is it just me or does Mourdock appear to be running a stealth campaign? Lugar's campaign puts out a steady stream of press releases compared to the lackluster messaging by Mourdock's campaign. Some of his most ardent supporters express complete disillusionment at the way his campaign is being managed.