Hostettler (Indiana) Primary watch and returns

[Brian4Liberty]

Today is the day, time to watch for returns...

You know it's a mainstream media report when they only mention the establishment candidate. :rolleyes:


IN Senate Race: Turn-out Jumps…
May 3, 2010 - 7:00 PM | by: Steve Brown

...but to whose advantage? This just crossed from the Associated Press:

Ind. absentee voting up 34% from 2006 primary

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Early voting numbers surged in the weekend leading up to the Tuesday Indiana primary, leaving absentee participation up 30 percent from the 2006 midyear election.

Indiana Secretary of State spokesman Jim Gavin said about 92,000 people requested mail-in ballots or voted early in-person by Monday morning.

Prior to this report much of the talk about voter turn-out centered on this theory: "If turn-out's high...it tilts in Dan Coats favor."

Coats, a Republican candidate in Indiana's U.S. Senate race, has been considered something of a front-runner. He is the best known GOP candidate. Coats held the job before retiring from politics, leaving the Senate seat open for Democrat Evan Bayh to win in 1998. But despite his advantages, Coats has not pulled away from the other four candidates in the Republican field.

The higher than expected turn-out could be the Coats campaign at work. Opposition campaigns tell Fox News they suspect the Coats campaign targeted absentee ballots and the boosted number may be a sign of that effort.

Is the heavy turn-out (for a non-presidential election year primary) because of the Coats efforts? Or have fed-up Indiana voters decided to the "throw the bums out" as some pundits would have you believe?

We'll have a better idea after the polls close in Indiana tomorrow night.

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/05/03/in-senate-race-turn-out-jumps/?test=latestnews

[Brian4Liberty]

The mainstream media is shameless. This report talks extensively about Coats, and the only rival with a chance to beat him, Stutzman. :mad:

YouTube - Senate Candidates final push (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqr8WWve5zk)

[Brian4Liberty]

Not particularly flattering of Coats, but he does get most of the article. Interesting how they shoved Hostettler into the "Democrat Contender" paragraphs. I skipped that part on the first read, and thought they had excluded Hostettler altogether. I wonder how many others made that mistake?



Wall Street, Washington Part of Debate in Today’s Indiana Vote
May 04, 2010, 4:55 AM EDT

By John McCormick

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Ties to Washington and Wall Street loom as liabilities for most U.S. politicians these days. Dan Coats has both, and today’s Indiana primary offers a test of how toxic such links have become.

Coats, 66, a former U.S. senator running again for a seat in the chamber, has been under assault for working for a lobbying firm that has represented Bank of America Corp., along with Google Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and other interests.

Four fellow Republicans in the primary have argued that voters seeking change should recoil from nominating Coats for the seat being vacated by Senator Evan Bayh, a Democrat. Even if Coats wins -- he leads in the polls -- Democrats believe he will emerge battered and plan to recycle the attacks on him.

“He sold out Indiana and left 10 years ago and never came back, so he’s going to have some problems explaining a lot of that stuff in a general election,” said Dan Parker, chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party. “His votes and his record as a lobbyist are a huge problem if he becomes the nominee.”

Besides Indiana, primaries are being held today in North Carolina and Ohio, to be followed later in May by seven contests that will collectively begin to define what November’s ballots will look like. States with Senate primaries on May 18 include Arkansas and Pennsylvania, where Democratic incumbents Blanche Lincoln and Arlen Specter face challenges.

Democratic Contender

The Republican winner in Indiana likely will take on Democrat Brad Ellsworth, 51, who represents a U.S. House district that has been one of the nation’s most politically competitive. State Democratic leaders are expected to designate Ellsworth as the party’s Senate nominee later this month.

Coats led in a poll conducted April 22-26 of likely Republican primary voters, though with support from barely more than a third on those interviewed. He had 36 percent; John Hostettler, a former House member, placed second with 24 percent, followed by state senator Marlin Stutzman at 18 percent.

The poll by Survey USA for the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne had an error margin of plus-or-minus 5 percentage points.

Hostettler, who lost his House seat in 2006 to Ellsworth, offers himself as a “reliable conservative,” questioning Coats’s credentials by pointing to the ex-senator’s support for some gun control measures while in office.

DeMint Support

Stutzman has the backing of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, a Republican who is funding more conservative candidates within the party. DeMint has described Stutzman as the “conservative outsider” who will take on the “Washington establishment.”

Coats, though, received the biggest share of support in the Survey USA poll -- 30 percent -- among likely Republican primary voters who identify with the Tea Party.

“Despite the anti-Washington persona of much of the Tea Party movement, its Indiana supporters are more supportive of the ‘establishment’ candidate Dan Coats than other candidates,” the center said in its poll analysis.

Coats was elected to the U.S. House in 1980 and appointed to the Senate in 1989 to replace Republican Dan Quayle, who had become vice president. Coats won his own term in 1992; six years later he declined to seek re-election.

Carpetbagger

Democrats are gearing up to paint Coats as a carpetbagger because he has lived in Virginia since 2005, after serving four years as ambassador to Germany for then-President George W. Bush.

“I know how Washington works, and I know how Washington doesn’t work,” Coats said in an interview yesterday. “Right now, Washington doesn’t work and I want to go there to make it work.”

Coats called the attacks against him and his lobbying work “false, totally misleading and factually wrong.”

He released a financial disclosure report last week that showed $603,609 in salary during 2009 and the first two months of 2010 from the Washington office of King & Spalding LLP.

In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Indiana in 44 years. The race to replace Bayh, though, is rated as leaning toward a Republican win in November by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington.

The Survey USA poll showed Coats winning a hypothetical match-up with Ellsworth, 47 percent to 31 percent.

Ellsworth declined an interview request.

Senate Majority

The race will help determine whether Democrats maintain their Senate majority and, if so, by what margin. The party controls the chamber 59-41.

The primary is being held as Indiana’s economy continues to struggle. The state’s unemployment rate was 9.9 percent in March, above the national rate of 9.7 percent.

Coats greeted diners yesterday at Flap-Jack’s Restaurant in Avon, Indiana.

“Glad to see you’re running again,” said Joyce Lowry, a therapist who lives in the town.

Lowry and her husband, Jim, said they plan to vote for Coats, and aren’t bothered by his lobbyist work.

“I don’t see it being a problem this fall, particularly since he will be running against a guy who voted for the health- care bill,” Jim Lowry said, referring to Ellsworth’s backing of the measure Congress enacted in March.

--Editors: Don Frederick, Paul Tighe

To contact the reporter on this story: John McCormick in Indianapolis at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim Kirk at jkirk12@bloomberg.net.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-04/wall-street-washington-part-of-debate-in-today-s-indiana-vote.html

[specsaregood]

Not particularly flattering of Coats, but he does get most of the article. Interesting how they shoved Hostettler into the "Democrat Contender" paragraphs. I skipped that part on the first read, and thought they had excluded Hostettler altogether. I wonder how many others made that mistake?

And despite Hostettler doing better than Stutzman in the polls, why leave him out. In what way is he different than the others....hmmm.... Oh yeah, he isn't a warmonger....

[itshappening]

Go John Go!

[Cowlesy]

The only reason Stutzman has been getting any play is because he solicited all the big foreign-policy-hawk "conservatives" to his aid, and they showed up with bags of cash, ready to go.

[Cowlesy]

http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=INS2&cycle=2010

If you look at Individual contributions, Stutzman had $52,000 vs $51,000 for Hostettler. Stutzman ponied up $23k of his own stash vs. zero from Hostettler. The number I can't reconcile is the "$172,387" of "Other" for Stutzman. That's why he's been getting the coverage.

[specsaregood]

The only reason Stutzman has been getting any play is because he solicited all the big foreign-policy-hawk "conservatives" to his aid, and they showed up with bags of cash, ready to go.

If Coats wins this, DeMint will have indeed played Kingmaker.

[itshappening]

Pray for John

Pray for John

Pray for John

Pray for John

[Brian4Liberty]

This is ugly. A brainwashed war-monger evaluates the candidates:

http://www.examiner.com/x-36883-Indianapolis-Conservative-Examiner~y2010m5d4-Indiana-republican-primary-senate-race-recap-and-endorsement

[John Taylor]

This is ugly. A brainwashed war-monger evaluates the candidates:

http://www.examiner.com/x-36883-Indianapolis-Conservative-Examiner~y2010m5d4-Indiana-republican-primary-senate-race-recap-and-endorsement

Early Returns (.3%) Coats 40%, Stutzman 32% Hostettler 19%

[John Taylor]

2.1% of the returns in...

Coats 40%
Hostettler 26.2%
Stutzman 25.3%

As we all knew, Stutzman has no chance and is only siphoning votes from the Hoss. Hopefully we'll make a charge here shortly!

[No1ButPaul08]

Only Miami County (northern IN) has reported. Long way to go.

[nate895]

2.1% of the returns in...

Coats 40%
Hostettler 26.2%
Stutzman 25.3%

As we all knew, Stutzman has no chance and is only siphoning votes from the Hoss. Hopefully we'll make a charge here shortly!

With the results I'm looking at, it looks possible for Hostettler. He leads in his counties by more than the other candidates, and Coats' numbers are fairly uniform. It seems the reason why Hostettler is low and the other two are high right now is because most of the results are coming from heavily anti-Hostettler counties. If Hostettler can keep his current vote shares in his part of the state (the south it looks like), and narrowly lose the rest of the state with the exception of the counties already reporting preliminary results, he could win. It's a long shot, but possible.

Edit: With the new numbers that just popped up, it looks like an even more impossible climb. It just seems that Stutzman is doing too well in the Northernwestern counties, and with Stutzman and Hostettler splitting landslides in their counties and Coats maintaining a consistent vote total throughout the state, Hostettler has to narrow the margin somewhere with Stutzman to remain competitive, and yet keep his dominating lead in the Southwest.

[No1ButPaul08]

Statewide results
(http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/primary/sos_primary10?page=office&countyID=-1&partyID=-1&officeID=4&districtID=-1&districtshortviewID=-1&candidate=)

By County (http://www.in.gov/apps/sos/primary/sos_primary10?page=district&countyID=-1&partyID=-1&officeID=4&districtID=514&districtshortviewID=514&candidate=)

[John Taylor]

Only Miami County (northern IN) has reported. Long way to go.

Good, that bodes well, Northern INdiana is Stutzman ground, so if he's barely at 25% there, we have a chance when he falls to 15% in other parts of the state to make up some ground and catch Coats.

[sofia]

this plurality bullshit has got to go...


it opens up the process to phony third candidate syphoners like Stuzman...

There ought to be a runoff so someone gets 50%

[No1ButPaul08]

Looks like the official Indiana election site is slower than the media.

[nate895]

The Politico results are totally different from the SoS?

Edit: The SoS has Miami and no one else. The media doesn't have Miami but lots of other places. That's just weird.

[No1ButPaul08]

The Politico results are totally different from the SoS?

Just way ahead. The SoS only has 1 county reporting but the rest of the media has results from all over the state.

[nate895]

Just way ahead. The SoS only has 1 county reporting but the rest of the media has results from all over the state.

Yes, but they don't have the results from Miami, which the SoS has. This might be a case of selective reporting. The media generally relies on the SoS in the case of statewide elections.

[No1ButPaul08]

Yes, but they don't have the results from Miami, which the SoS has. This might be a case of selective reporting. The media generally relies on the SoS in the case of statewide elections.

Weird..well anyway the media reports have 0% from the county Evansville is in (biggest city in Hostettler territory.)

[Cowlesy]

We aren't going to catch Coats.

[No1ButPaul08]

The numbers on Allen County on the SoS are showing more votes than the media is. It's weird because the SoS has 2 counties reporting one of which is 0% on the media reports and the other the media is way behind. Otherwise the media has way more results

[nate895]

These election results are the weirdest I have ever witnessed. There was just a whole ton of votes that were overwhelmingly for Coats from one county plop out of nowhere on the SoS website, which the media has yet to report. It's just weird, and I don't trust them. I'm about as opposed to conspiracy theories and other BS as anybody else, but these recent events are just beyond reason and so abnormal.

[winston_blade]

Coats got it. Oh well.

[No1ButPaul08]

These election results are the weirdest I have ever witnessed. There was just a whole ton of votes that were overwhelmingly for Coats from one county plop out of nowhere on the SoS website, which the media has yet to report. It's just weird, and I don't trust them. I'm about as opposed to conspiracy theories and other BS as the anybody else, but these recent events are just beyond reason and so abnormal.

Yes very weird. The county is Allen County third biggest in the state (Fort Wayne).

[John Taylor]

It's too bad we couldn't have rallied the troops and given the Hoss 400k or so with which he could have competed and won.

[low preference guy]

It's too bad we couldn't have rallied the troops and given the Hoss 400k or so with which he could have competed and won.

$400k sounds like an impossible feat. In the last two money bombs for Rand and Peter, they received $150k combined. We are not that big yet.

[nate895]

Yes very weird. The county is Allen County third biggest in the state (Fort Wayne).

It isn't just this primary, it's this primary combined with all the other stuff that has been going on recently. It just doesn't make sense.

[John Taylor]

$400k sounds like an impossible feat. In the last two money bombs for Rand and Peter, they received $150k combined. We are not that big yet.

Well, having witnessed Rand raise 2.7 million, and considering I never said "in one money bomb", I'd say, nice non sequitor response.

I was merely observing that Mr. Hostettler has been in the race for 6 months, and over that time, 400k could have been easily raised for him, especially considering how much has been raised by the likes of John Dennis, B.J. Lawson and Adam Kokesh.

[Odin]

Is it over then? Or is it possible that the counties that haven't been counted yet come in strongly against Coats?

[low preference guy]

Well, having witnessed Rand raise 2.7 million, and considering I never said "in one money bomb", I'd say, nice non sequitor response.

I was merely observing that Mr. Hostettler has been in the race for 6 months, and over that time, 400k could have been easily raised for him, especially considering how much has been raised by the likes of John Dennis, B.J. Lawson and Adam Kokesh.

I still don't think it would've happen, that would probably required $200k less money going to Rand. People wouldn't have wanted it.

Also, it was really hard to motivate members, including an owner of RPF, to get over his Patriot Act vote.

[No1ButPaul08]

Is it over then? Or is it possible that the counties that haven't been counted yet come in strongly against Coats?

It's over. Hostettler's strongholds haven't reported but I don't think it's going to be enough

[LibertyBrews]

Looks like folks in Indiana just love statist neocons. Well, what goes around comes around.

[John Taylor]

I still don't think it would've happen, that would probably required $200k less money going to Rand. People wouldn't have wanted it.

Also, it was really hard to motivate members, including an owner of RPF, to get over his Patriot Act vote.

$400K is small change, requiring less than 200 donors. All that was necessary was for some folks to comprehend that a paleo-conservative non-interventionist who occasionally will disagree with a libertarian Ron Paul is still light-years better than another neo-conservative, and that, we need a coalition with the paleo-right in order to make a real charge at transforming the GOP.

I don't think money would've been diverted from Rand, but rather from candidates who will most likely lose anyway, like B.J. Lawson, John Dennis, RJ Harris and Adam Kokesh. Whatever floats your boat though.

[John Taylor]

Looks like folks in Indiana just love statist neocons. Well, what goes around comes around.

No, that's not it, what happened is that we didn't coalesce behind Hostettler.

[No1ButPaul08]

No, that's not it, what happened is that we didn't coalesce behind Hostettler.

Well that and hardly anyone outside of Evansville knows who Hostettler is

[Odin]

It's over. Hostettler's strongholds haven't reported but I don't think it's going to be enough

But he at least won't lose as badly as he is now? It would be somewhat embarrassing for Stutzman to come second.

[winston_blade]

Looks like folks in Indiana just love statist neocons. Well, what goes around comes around.

Actually places like Indiana and Kentucky are one of the few places a liberty candidate can win a statewide race. Hoss had no advertising here. You can't win like that.

[spudea]

is there a runoff if no-one gets majority votes? Have the early voting ballots been included? also since there was an unprecedented early voting turnout, we can't call it over till they include those votes as well.

[LibertyBrews]

Actually places like Indiana and Kentucky are one of the few places a liberty candidate can win a statewide race. Hoss had no advertising here. You can't win like that.

Perhaps so, i'm just tired of our candidates loosing all the time.

[malkusm]

There is some good news in Indiana tonight: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=242972

[spudea]

a really large county, Lake, hasn't started reporting yet.

[No1ButPaul08]

the largest county, Lake, hasn't started reporting yet. I still think its too close to call.

Hostettler will get crushed in Lake County

[spudea]

looking at the map, host has huge support in the southwest counties. Winning knox, Daviess, and Pike counties by wide margins. Vanderburgh, gibson, warrack, and posey counties are in the same area with 0% reporting but with a total of 264 precincts.

[daviddee]

...

[Shotdown1027]

Hostettler is climbing, slightly, as the results roll in--but it won't be enough. He's gained roughly 2.9% while the last 30% has reported. If that keeps up he'll end up around 26.5%, but there is no guarantee that trend will keep. He could possibly catch Stutzman, though that's unlikely, but there is no way he catches Coats.

[AuH20]

The goddamn subsidy farmer is playing spoiler. On the other hand, the republicans of Indiana have to be insane to vote for a lobbyist like Coats.

[Odin]

I think Stutzman and Hostettler will each end up at about 26% each, and Coats will stay at about 40%. If only the 'conservative' vote had not been so split.

[paulitics]

Beck was shilling hard for Stutzman today, and even had him on the show while not once mentioning Hostettler.

[Chieftain1776]

Because too many people on here put too high of expectations on candidates that can't win. Can't win for a variety of reasons...

Honestly if Rand Paul's primary wasn't against the most powerful Republican machine in America then we could have supported Hostettler. Plus the Indy primary was within the 2 weeks of the KY primary. If it was late--in August for example--we would have had time to rally.

RedState/Demint dropped the ball on this one. They should have backed Hoss in return for a promise that Hoss would defer to them when 80 year old Dick Lugar retires/keels over. Lugar doesn't tow the neocon line on foreign policy so it would have been an "even trade".

[Fozz]

This is an absolute disgrace. We should have started supporting Hostettler months ago, like in December or January, and he would have had a much better chance of winning this. He would have been the leading anti-war liberty voice in the Senate, while Rand Paul has to be much more careful about what he says about foreign policy.

Now we have an utterly repulsive hack like Coats who is going to win this. If we had been this negligent on the Kentucky race, this would have been an easy win for Grayson.

[Koz]

This is an absolute disgrace. We should have started supporting Hostettler months ago, like in December or January, and he would have had a much better chance of winning this. He would have been the leading anti-war liberty voice in the Senate, while Rand Paul has to be much more careful about what he says about foreign policy.

Now we have an utterly repulsive hack like Coats who is going to win this. If we had been this negligent on the Kentucky race, this would have been an easy win for Grayson.

I concur, but there is little organization in the liberty movement. It's almost like every man for himself. Not that bad, but close.

[TCE]

Well, we spent a month arguing if Hostettler was libertarian enough. Anyway, now the focus is on Lawson, Rand, Gunny, and you know, that other guy with the forum.

[Brian4Liberty]

This is an absolute disgrace. We should have started supporting Hostettler months ago, like in December or January, and he would have had a much better chance of winning this. He would have been the leading anti-war liberty voice in the Senate, while Rand Paul has to be much more careful about what he says about foreign policy.

Now we have an utterly repulsive hack like Coats who is going to win this. If we had been this negligent on the Kentucky race, this would have been an easy win for Grayson.

People running for US Senate should have been a little higher on our priority list (because there are less of them). People with a good chance of winning should also get a priority boost. That would have made Hostettler second only to Rand as a priority...

A similar scenario is going to play out in California. We have the neo-con RINO establishment candidate Carly Fiorina vs. Chuck DeVore and Tom Campbell. Campbell and DeVore could very well end up splitting the constitutional/fiscal conservative vote, leaving Carly as the winner.

[sofia]

dont be too had on yourselves guys...

it was Stulzman who effed us on this

[speciallyblend]

dont be too had on yourselves guys...

it was Stulzman who effed us on this

WIN or LOSE, Our Liberty Tree Grows!!!! we just have to keep watering the tree of Liberty!!

[Badger Paul]

Well, no one can call us the "Four Percenters" anymore. We are a signification faction on the political landscape. But to be more than just a a mere faction, we have to keep at it, even if we have to wait until our foes retire or die. At least we're the future.

If Hostettler had the same kind of money Stutzman had to spend after DeMint's endorsement, who knows what could have happened? It's too bad a good grassroots army had to fight without air support.

Plus, Hostettler had a lot of detractors in the state GOP. Many thought he tanked it in 2006 and I'm sure that cost him some support he could have had.

Looking at the results, he probably wishes he could have had another shot at his old House seat the way things worked out. Oh well.

Some may not think it, but I'm happy it's Coats and Stuztman who won. Coats strikes me as more of Dick Lugar realist on foreign policy than the neocon Stuztman. The last thing we need is another neocon in D.C.

Still this is a very weak result for Coats and if I'm Brad Ellsworth, I've got to be feeling good about my chances. It may be true, that the Republicans could run a scarecrow in Indiana and win in the fall, but Coats won't be doing so with a lot of ground support nor can he say "I'm anti-Washington."

The problem for anti-establishments is simply too many candidates and not much agreement between us. A majority of Indiana Republicans do not want Dan Coats to represent them in the Senate. That's a fact.

[Badger Paul]

Before I sign off, thanks to all of Hostettler supporters for the hard work they put it. No one can say they lost due to lack of effort.

[Odin]

People running for US Senate should have been a little higher on our priority list (because there are less of them). People with a good chance of winning should also get a priority boost. That would have made Hostettler second only to Rand as a priority...

A similar scenario is going to play out in California. We have the neo-con RINO establishment candidate Carly Fiorina vs. Chuck DeVore and Tom Campbell. Campbell and DeVore could very well end up splitting the constitutional/fiscal conservative vote, leaving Carly as the winner.

I'm in California and I'm really torn over which one to vote for. What do you think? I like Chuck Devore more, but I'm worried that only Campbell can stop Fiorina from winning.

Another Liberty candidate I just found is winning in the Republican primary for Senate in Washington. His name is Chris Didier, has raised a lot of money so far, and seems to be completely non-interventionist (although you would never guess it looking at him, he's a giant football jock with a mustache, looks like a total neocon lol). I'm just surprised there's been no mention of him here yet, please see my thread about him though.

[Odin]

Well, no one can call us the "Four Percenters" anymore. We are a signification faction on the political landscape. But to be more than just a a mere faction, we have to keep at it, even if we have to wait until our foes retire or die. At least we're the future.

If Hostettler had the same kind of money Stutzman had to spend after DeMint's endorsement, who knows what could have happened? It's too bad a good grassroots army had to fight without air support.

Plus, Hostettler had a lot of detractors in the state GOP. Many thought he tanked it in 2006 and I'm sure that cost him some support he could have had.

Looking at the results, he probably wishes he could have had another shot at his old House seat the way things worked out. Oh well.

Some may not think it, but I'm happy it's Coats and Stuztman who won. Coats strikes me as more of Dick Lugar realist on foreign policy than the neocon Stuztman. The last thing we need is another neocon in D.C.

Still this is a very weak result for Coats and if I'm Brad Ellsworth, I've got to be feeling good about my chances. It may be true, that the Republicans could run a scarecrow in Indiana and win in the fall, but Coats won't be doing so with a lot of ground support nor can he say "I'm anti-Washington."

The problem for anti-establishments is simply too many candidates and not much agreement between us. A majority of Indiana Republicans do not want Dan Coats to represent them in the Senate. That's a fact.

+1. Who knows, maybe John Hostettler can primary Lugar in 2012, or run again if Lugar retires. He'd definitely be a good person to get back into federal office somehow.

[No1ButPaul08]

+1. Who knows, maybe John Hostettler can primary Lugar in 2012, or run again if Lugar retires. He'd definitely be a good person to get back into federal office somehow.

Nobody is going to primary Lugar there isn't a safer politician in the country

[Brian4Liberty]

Nobody is going to primary Lugar there isn't a safer politician in the country

How old is Lugar? It doesn't hurt to have a candidate file all the appropriate paperwork to be in the race, in case Lugar drops out...

[Odin]

How old is Lugar? It doesn't hurt to have a candidate file all the appropriate paperwork to be in the race, in case Lugar drops out...

Yeah that's what I meant, isn't he like 80 or something? Sometimes with guys that old the threat of a primary is enough to get them to retire.

[No1ButPaul08]

Yeah that's what I meant, isn't he like 80 or something? Sometimes with guys that old the threat of a primary is enough to get them to retire.

There is no threat of a primary. Even if someone challenged him he could sit on his ass and do nothing and win the seat. He might retire but if he runs he wins.

[nate895]

Last election Lugar's only opposition was a libertarian. The libertarian got around 12% of the vote. That's right, the Democrats didn't even have the nerve to put up a place holder.

[Brian4Liberty]

I'm in California and I'm really torn over which one to vote for. What do you think? I like Chuck Devore more, but I'm worried that only Campbell can stop Fiorina from winning.


Yep. We'll see how it's looking closer to the vote. Probably be a last minute decision.

[teamrican1]

RedState/Demint dropped the ball on this one.

They didn't drop the ball on anything. RedState understands this is a war, and we are their primary enemy. Hostettler was polling ahead of Coats, and since there was no way they could get Coats' numbers any higher, they needed another guy in the race. So they all rallied behind Stutz. The way this turned out is exactly the way they wanted it. The non-interventionist was defeated. The only thing pro-Liberty folks in Indiana can do at this point is vote for the Democrat in the fall and turn their attention to getting people like Schiff elected in Connecticut.

[specsaregood]

They didn't drop the ball on anything. RedState understands this is a war, and we are their primary enemy. Hostettler was polling ahead of Coats, and since there was no way they could get Coats' numbers any hire, they needed another guy in the race. So they all rallied behind Stutz. The way this turned out is exactly the way they wanted it. The non-interventionist was defeated. The only thing pro-Liberty folks in Indiana can do at this point is vote for the Democrat in the fall and turn their attention to getting people like Schiff elected in Connecticut.

Yup. They would rather have a McCain-like ex-lobbyist gun-grabbing sold-out corporatist douche than risk somebody that doesn't like unconstitutional, interventionist wars.