Tea party in Indiana looking to unite

[itshappening]

WASHINGTON (AP) — What does a longtime Republican senator with a national reputation for working well with Democrats do in the face of a potentially career-ending tea party challenge?

If you're Richard Lugar of Indiana, you tell them to "get real."

If you're Olympia Snowe of Maine, you fight off the "Snowe Removal" effort by making key alliances with tea party activists and highlighting your record of fiscal conservatism.

And if you're Orrin Hatch of Utah, you woo them.

Lugar, Snowe and Hatch are all on notice that their approach to governance may no longer be welcome.

It's clear the tea party — not even 2 years old — isn't going away anytime soon after huge success in last fall's congressional elections. Dozens of its favorite candidates — Republicans who champion limited government and sharply reduced spending — won House and Senate races. Now, the tea party is empowered and turning its attention to vulnerable Republicans up for re-election in 2012. How the three GOP senators handle the tea party threat will go a long way to determining whether the outcome mirrors that of 2010.

In Indiana, the tea party is organizing to unite behind one candidate who could challenge Lugar in a primary. In Maine, the plan is for a spring "Snowe Removal." In Utah, Hatch's efforts have begun to pay off, but the junior senator, Mike Lee, who replaced Sen. Robert Bennett in a tea party upset in 2010, has said he won't endorse Hatch for re-election.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBQXyMpryy2burvByanQ4yFTqJGg?docId=5d6e50f12 31d467bb7d85ba78db629a9
-

WE MUST ENLIST JOHN HOSTETTLER

-In June 2000, Hostettler was one of 10 Republicans voting against a prescription drug bill that passed the House 217-214. (The bill failed in the Senate.)[11]

-On October 10, 2002, U.S. Congressman John Hostettler was one of six House Republicans who voted against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that authorized the invasion of Iraq.[14] In a speech to the U.S. House on October 8, 2002, invoking St. Augustine's Just War Thesis, the Minutemen, and the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, Rep. Hostettler revealed his conclusion that:

"...Iraq indeed poses a threat, but it does not pose an imminent threat that justifies a pre-emptive military strike at this time."

-In September 2005, Hostettler was one of 11 Representatives who voted against the $51.8 billion aid package for relief and recovery from Hurricane Katrina.[19] Spokesman Matt Faraci said Hostettler voted against the hurricane measure because it included a provision making it easy for supposed do-gooders to pilfer federal funds

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001: Vote to pass a bill that would authorize $22.8 billion in education funding, a 29 percent increase from fiscal 2001. The bill would require states to test students to track progress. Hostettler voted NO.

-
This man has a record and distinguished congressional service. He will not "Marco Rubio" us like so many other politicians who will use the Tea party to get elected.

Hostettler has a record of not bending to the establishment, this is very important. He must be drafted to run for Senate !!!

[Sola_Fide]

Hostettler is solid. I would definitely help him financially and otherwise if we could defeat Lugar.

[itshappening]

I dont know if he's 100% with us but his record shows he is his own man and we need more of those in the Senate, especially if the GOP take it over

Some of his votes in congress took balls during the Bush admin and this makes him the perfect candidate.

[realtonygoodwin]

Is he Pro-choice or Pro-life?
How did he vote on TARP?
What about the PATRIOT Act?
How is he for Second Amendment rights?

[erowe1]

Is he Pro-choice or Pro-life?
How did he vote on TARP?
What about the PATRIOT Act?
How is he for Second Amendment rights?

He's staunchly pro-life, and staunchly pro-2nd amendment (he got in trouble when he first ran for telling a class of kids that the 2nd amendment included the individual's right to have nuclear weapons). Those are two of his biggest issues, along with his non-interventionist foreign policy.

He's for the Patriot Act. He voted for it originally and hasn't changed his mind. He doesn't pander to anyone. He knows RP fans don't like it, but he'll sit down with them and explain why he's for it and why he's convinced that the arguments of its being unconstitutional are invalid without budging or trying to woo them.

He wasn't in office for TARP. But I'm convinced he would have voted against it. He's really big on the 10th amendment. He won't support things that are outside the enumerated powers of the Constitution. He sponsored numerous bills to eliminate the departments of Energy, Education, and Commerce, while he was in office.

Two problems:
1) I doubt that he will run. And if he's made up his mind not to, which I've been told by others he has, then he's not the type to get talked into it. When his mind's made up about something, that's that.
2) A united Indiana tea party isn't a point in Hostettler's favor. The tea parties in the southern part of the state like him. But if you put the whole state's tea party movement together and tell them they have to agree on someone, it won't be Hostettler. It will be someone much more inside the GOP establishment, and it will someone with an interventionist foreign policy. Frankly, given the choice between Lugar and Hostettler, I think a lot of tea partiers up in my part of the state would settle with Lugar. For all it's anti-establishment talk, the tea party here is very closely tied to the GOP.
3) Even with tea party opposition, I think Lugar would be almost unbeatable. He has millions already in the bank that he could spend just on his primary if he had to, and if Hostettler were his main opponent, the entire GOP establishment throughout the state and the nation would line up behind Lugar. Don't expect Demint or anyone else to support Hostettler. Whoever wants to go against Lugar will have to be a money-raising machine just to make a dent. That's the opposite of the approach to politics Hostettler has always taken. I don't know if he could adopt a more money-focused campaign strategy, but it wouldn't come naturally to him.

All that said, if he would run again, I'd support him enthusiastically. With the war drums beating against Iran, I think that Hostettler, in addition to being a die-hard conservative on domestic issues, could end up being one of the strongest and most stubborn voices among all Senate Republicans opposing going to war there. And if that were to happen, simply accomplishing that would more than make up for whatever disagreements I have.

[erowe1]

Here are some more factoids on Hostettler.
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?240880-50-reasons-to-donate-to-Hostettler-April-22

[itshappening]

The whole establishment lined up against Rand

Hostettler needs to announce on tax day, like Rand, that he is running for the US Senate to a cheering, adoring crowd after a speech about the constitution

for someone who is big on the 2nd amendment and the constitution why does he want to gut the 4th? has he explained his "reasons" behind supporting the PATRIOT act? maybe he will change his mind, I dont know but just on everything else he is very close to us.

He would certainly be better than another go along get along character like Coats.

Rand and Lee could campaign for him so I dont see DeMint or anyone else not campaiging for him as a problem. DeMint is so last year and has been eclipsed by the likes of Rand Paul. The Senate GOP does not call the shots.

We can raise money for Hostettler if he gets in touch with the RP Website people, builds a decent site and reaches out, networks and run a good campaign. He can defeat Lugar, his name ID is very high and he is in a better position than anyone else to take him on.

Those you say up state wont be coming out in droves to vote for Lugar in a primary, the primary electorate will be coming out for Hostettler like they did for Rand in Kentucky so I don't believe in the establishment line.

If Hostletter can get people excited to come out in numbers and positively vote for him by talking about opposition to bailouts, tackling the debt, deficits etc. then he would do well, there's a REASON for them to come out and vote for him, what's the reason to vote for the aging Lugar?

[HOLLYWOOD]

Apart from some quiet efforts — Lugar has met in private with tea party leaders in his state, including Boyer — Lugar has shown no signs that he will change his message.
"Sen. Lugar just expected this. He's good-humored about it," said Mark Helmke, a senior adviser to Lugar. "He's going to continue to do what he's always done."
Whata a narcissistic sociopathic scumbag. Luger has one foot in grave, he doesn't give a shit what anyone does, anything that blows up down the road will be long after he's gone, or dead and buried. His establishment machine will play the same old broken record of Pro-Life/Gun owners and then take everything else from the people with their slide of hand tricks.

Point to note... WATCH WHAT TEA PARTY ORG's these politicians meet with, because over half of them are co-opted establishment fascist Washington DC funded fronts (TEA PARTY EXPRESS, RESISTNET, PATRIOT ACTION NETWORK, FREEDOM WORKS, PNAC.

To counter this old establishment school politics is to organize counter points that appeal to the emotional and fear factories of people, like they have perfected over the centuries. Politics are a dirty/filthy/nasty business... time to bring a cannon to this firefight.

Frankly, Lugar looks like a child molester or should be starring in the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel.

[erowe1]

The whole establishment lined up against Rand

Really? What about Palin? Demint? Erick Erickson? Club for Growth? James Dobson?

Also, Trey Grayson is a novice compared to Lugar.


Hostettler needs to announce on tax day, like Rand, that he is running for the US Senate to a cheering, adoring crowd after a speech about the constitution
We can't just write a script online and wave a wand.


for someone who is big on the 2nd amendment and the constitution why does he want to gut the 4th?
Which part of the 4th do you think he wants to gut?


has he explained his "reasons" behind supporting the PATRIOT act?
Yes, many times.


maybe he will change his mind
He won't.


We can raise money for Hostettler if he gets in touch with the RP Website people, builds a decent site and reaches out, networks and run a good campaign.
We did all that in 2010. I don't know how much he got from RP supporters. Maybe something like $30k. Many just weren't enthusiastic enough about him to put money on him. I don't see why that would change in 2012.


Those you say up state wont be coming out in droves to vote for Lugar in a primary, the primary electorate will be coming out for Hostettler like they did for Rand in Kentucky so I don't believe in the establishment line.
Rand had the freedom to write his own narrative from scratch about who he was, what he stood for, and what his emphasis was. Hostettler, like Ron Paul, has a record he can't run from that Republicans seem not to like too much.

Rand also got hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ron Paul supporters around the country. He wouldn't have won without that. I don't see why we should think that Hostettler would get more support from our movement in 2012 when he'd be a huge longshot candidate against a well-funded, well-known, and (despite what some think) well-liked incumbent, than he did in 2010 running for an open seat, where all he had to do was beat two very beatable candidates in the GOP primary, and where a mere hundred thousand dollars raised could have been enough to do that.


If Hostletter can get people excited to come out in numbers and positively vote for him by talking about opposition to bailouts, tackling the debt, deficits etc. then he would do well
He did that already in 2010, and lost to both Coats and Stutzman. Lugar would be far more formidable than they were.


what's the reason to vote for the aging Lugar?
The fact that they've always supported him before and he hasn't changed. So if he was good enough for them the past 6 elections, why wouldn't he be now? They know Lugar won't rock the boat, whereas they know Hostettler will. They know Lugar will put Israel's interests first, whereas they know Hostettler won't. They will see Lugar as the guy with endorsements from all the Republicans they like, like Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence, whoever the 2012 presidential nominee is, and every other big-name Republican you can think of, while Hostettler will have the endorsements of all the troublemakers they don't like, like Ron and Rand Paul and Tom Tancredo. And Lugar will own the airwaves.

If the Indiana tea parties want to back someone besides Lugar (which I expect they will), then they'll pick Mourdock, or someone else. But it probably won't be Hostettler.

Edit: Don't get me wrong. I don't want to discourage you. And if I had the chance to do everything I did for the Hostettler campaign in 2010 again in 2012, I would. But I don't see how we go to him and try to convince him to run. If he says, "You asked me to run in 2010. I did. I was hoping for some significant support from Ron Paul supporters. I didn't get it. Why should I expect it to be different this time?" how are we going to answer that?

Actually, depending how redistricting shakes out, I don't know if there might be an opportunity for him to run for the House again in the near future. If that opportunity arose, I don't know if he'd want to go for it, but if he did, I think he'd be in a really good position to win that, and I can more easily envision him being convinced to go for that than to go on what would appear to be a suicide mission of another senate run in 2012.

[TheeJoeGlass]

As an Indiana resident, all focus should be on stopping Mike Pence. Richard Lugar is almost 80, why beat a dead horse?

[itshappening]

bump

because we can win a senate seat and get rid of Lugar.

senators are more powerful