Senate race could get interesting

Indiana politics doesn’t have a reputation for being interesting.
But there’s a scenario taking shape for 2012 that’s likely to have the chattering classes in Washington buzzing.
Nope, not Mike Pence’s run for governor.
And not the possibility of a Mitch Daniels run for the Republican nomination for president.
The most intriguing situation involves Sen. Richard Lugar’s run for re-election.
Lugar, who has considered himself a conservative his entire political life, is apparently no longer conservative enough for some in his party.
More strident voices on the right, stirred by the Tea Party faction, are calling for Lugar’s retirement.
State Treasurer Richard Mourdock is the most prominent candidate hoping to knock off Lugar in the GOP primary.
He was the state’s top vote-getter in the off-year election and is probably best known for his legal campaign against the Obama administration’s efforts to rescue Chrysler.
The fact that Mourdock lost that legal battle and that the Chrysler rescue saved hundreds of Hoosier jobs doesn’t bother the Tea Party base. They’ve come to see Lugar as too willing to compromise.
Ironically, it’s just that willingness to move toward the center now and then which has endeared Sen. Lugar to independent voters and moderate Democrats. Non-Republican voters are so comfortable with the guy that he didn’t have an opponent in the general election last time around.
Now a Mourdock and Tea Party win over Lugar in the primary would be an enormous, headline-grabbing victory. But it would also alienate many less ideologically driven Republicans who have been proud to have Richard Lugar as their senator.
That’s where Rep. Joe Donnelly comes in.
The Democratic congressman was announcing today he’ll go after the Lugar seat in the Senate in 2012.
He’s doing it not because he thinks it’s time for Lugar to retire but because he believes Mourdock will be the nominee.
A moderate Democrat who gets good marks from the National Rifle Association, Donnelly is exactly the sort of candidate to attract independents and disaffected Republicans if there’s a bloody GOP primary battle.
How it will play out is anyone’s guess.
But it’s going to be fascinating to watch. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]