Former Ambassador to the UN and U.S. Sen. John Danforth (R-MO)

In light of yesterday’s defeat for Lugar, denied the Republican nomination for his Indiana Senate seat by a 60 percent to 40 percent landslide, ThinkProgress contacted to Senator Danforth to ask him his reaction to the news:

THINKPROGRESS: What do you think is happening here?

DANFORTH: An effort by some, and apparently a large number, 60% in Indiana, to purge the Republican Party and to create something that’s ideologically pure and intolerant of anybody who does not agree with them — not just on general principles, but right across the board.

THINKPROGRESS: Do you stand by your view that GOP is beyond hope?

DANFORTH: If this trend succeeds, yeah. What they will be left with, if indeed they want to purge the party of all but people who have a particular ideological slant… it’s not a way to win elections, it’s not political sustainable. It might make them feel good for a time but doesn’t work, it hasn’t worked. It didn’t work in Nevada or in Delaware in last election. They won nominations but couldn’t win elections. I don’t know how you win elections without getting 51% of the vote. I don’t see how you’re gonna get 51% of the vote if you make it clear that people in your own party, who don’t absolutely agree with everything you want to do, aren’t wanted.

Now that the Republican Party that has cast out Lugar, who he noted is not “some kind of liberal” but a “very conservative person,” Danforth warned, “You’re gonna be left with a party that is very pure and increasingly inconsequential. And a political system that is increasingly unable to get off the dime.”

Last night, Richard Mourdock (R) upset Sen. Dick Lugar (R) in Indiana’s Republican Senate primary. Mourdock, who currently serves as State Treasurer, trounced the 36-year Senate veteran by 22 points, 61-39, due in no small part to his support from Tea Party groups.

Mourdock won by positioning himself well to the right of Lugar. Now, as he enters the limelight as the biggest Tea Party victory of 2012, let’s take a look at the top five things everyone should know about Mourdock.

- (1) Mourdock believes that President Obama deserves the blame for a bad economy, but no credit for its improvement: In an interview with ThinkProgress earlier this year, we asked Mourdock about the economy and who deserves credit in bad times and good. He pinned the blame on President Obama for “killing our economy,” despite the fact that the financial collapse occurred under George W. Bush’s watch. We asked Mourdock whether Obama would deserve credit if the economic recovery continues. “It won’t be because of President Obama when we see recovery,” Mourdock explained. “It will be in spite of President Obama.” [ThinkProgress]

- (2) Mourdock’s take on bipartisanship: it “ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view”: Appearing on MSNBC following his primary victory, Mourdock offered his own unique take on how bipartisanship should work in Washington DC, telling Chuck Todd, “I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.” In other words, the solution for Washington’s ills is not less partisanship and polarization, but more. Dick Lugar had earned a reputation for finding some areas of bipartisan consensus with Democrats, particularly on foreign policy. That is a reputation that Mourdock appears unlikely to uphold. [ThinkProgress]

- (3) His campaign was investigated for accessing voter data: Mourdock’s campaign manager, Jim Holden, “likely violated a user agreement with the state party when he shared a logon to the database with an outside vendor.” In a March 14 email, Holden told staffers that they should “start pillaging email addresses” from the voter database, prompting the state Republican Party to revoke the Mourdock campaign’s access privileges.[AP]

- (4) Mourdock’s model Supreme Court Justice is anti-woman Judge Robert Bork: Asked on MSNBC about how he would approach Supreme Court nomination votes as senator, Mourdock promised to obstruct nominees who didn’t resemble Robert Bork. Bork’s views are so far outside the mainstream they cannot be fully enumerated here, but a few highlights include his description of a federal ban on employment discrimination and whites-only lunch counters as “unsurpassed ugliness,” his belief that it is “silly” to think that women are discriminated against, and that it’s “utterly specious” to suggest that women have a constitutional right to use contraception. [ThinkProgress]

- (5) His candidacy is fueled by dirty energy money and outside spending groups: It is unlikely Mourdock would have won the primary without an infusion of $1.6 million in spending from the pro-Wall Street Club for Growth, as well as over half a million from FreedomWorks, an astroturf Tea Party group. In addition, Mourdock enjoyed a maxed out contribution from Murray Energy’s PAC, which represents the nation’s largest privately-owned coal company. Mourdock, a former coal company executive, received an additional $18,000 in contributions elsewhere from the coal, oil, and gas industries. [ThinkProgress]

Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R) crushed Sen. Dick Lugar (R) in yesterday’s GOP Senate primary in Indiana, ending the 36-year career of one of the few Republican senators left in Washington who was interested in working with Democrats to get things done.

Tea Party-backed Mourdock is not just ideological, he is adamantly opposed to bipartisanship. In fact, he’s called for more partisanship in Washington, saying he’s more interested in destroying Democrats than solving the nation’s problems by working with them.

Appearing on MSNBC this morning with host Chuck Todd, Mourdock offered his own definition of bipartisanship:

MOURDOCK: I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view. … If we [win the House, Senate, and White House], bipartisanship means they have to come our way, and if we’re successful in getting the numbers, we’ll work towards that.

Watch it:

As TP Justice Editor Ian Millhiser notes, Mourdock’s win means Democrats have no choice but to reform the filibuster: “The parties are too far apart. The Republicans are too eager to obstruct, and the handful of GOPers with a history of bipartisanship [like Lugar] will be too spooked to reach across the aisle. America could go years with one or more Supreme Court seats vacant.”

A couple of years ago when conservative activists were making noise about primarying Lugar, former Republican senator and UN ambassador John Danforth told the New York Times, “If Dick Lugar, having served five terms in the U.S. Senate and being the most respected person in the Senate and the leading authority on foreign policy, is seriously challenged by anybody in the Republican Party, we have gone so far overboard that we are beyond redemption.”

Apparently, that time has come.

Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN)

In Wisconsin, Democrats will decide who their nominee will be to go up against Gov. Scott Walker (R) in his upcoming recall election. The party and labor organizations have been split between two candidates for much of the race, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk, though Barett is the clear favorite and more likely to beat Walker in the recall. Barrett also served five terms in the U.S. House and lost to Walker narrowly in the 2010 gubernatorial race. Falk has been more closely tied to the protest movement against Walker, however. Labor unions and other progressive activists have vowed to unite behind whoever wins in order to oust Walker on June 5.

Indiana has another key primary today, this one on the Republican side, where long-time Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) is in the fight of his political life against Tea Party-backed state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R). Most observers expect Lugar to lose today, ending his 36-year career in the Senate. A Lugar loss would likely make it easier for Democrats to pick up the seat in November, which otherwise would have been a cake walk for Republicans to hold.

And in North Carolina, voters will take on an anti-gay ballot measure that has attracted national attention and organization. Marriage equality is already banned in the state, but North Carolina Amendment One would prohibit civil unions and domestic partnerships as well, and is written so broadly that it could even imperil heterosexual couples.

As well-funded super PACs — including the Club for Growth Action, FreedomWorks for America, and the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund — poured millions of dollars into independent expenditures encouraging Indiana voters to support for State Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R) and against incumbent Sen. Dick Lugar (R) in tomorrow’s Republican primary, one pro-Lugar super PAC cried foul. But their ads decrying out-of-state influence are the height of hypocrisy as they were largely funded also by out-of-state donors.

Hoosiers for Jobs (formerly Hoosiers for Economic Growth & Jobs) has spent at least $175,000 on mailings and television ads in support of Lugar. Two spots by the group attack efforts by outside groups to “buy the election.” One ad, ironically called “Hypocrites,” attacks the Wall Street Club for Growth’s support of Mourdock as a “D.C. special interest bailout of his campaign.” The other, “Not for Sale,” says the Club is “trying to buy our Senate seat by spending millions of dollars of secret Wall Street money” attacking Lugar.

Watch “Hypocrites”:

Watch “Not for Sale”:

But, as the Center for Public Integrity notes, more than two-thirds of the donations reported to date by Hoosiers for Jobs come from outside of Indiana. The group’s filings reveal that through April 18, it received $170,000. Just $55,000 of that came from Hoosiers, whom the group claims to represent.

Who did fund the misnamed “Hoosiers for Jobs?” Former lobbyist Roy Pfautch of St. Louis, Missouri donated $50,000, Swift Boat funder Sam Fox of St. Louis gave $25,000, and the Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. kicked in $25,000.

Why is the convenience store franchise helping Lugar? He “understands our issues,” a spokesperson told the CPI. Lugar also supported the Slurpee-seller in a congressional battle against banks, and his daughter-in-law is a lobbyist for a trade association tied to the omnipresent retailer.

As Super PACs spend more and more on statewide and congressional races, voters should take their messages with a shaker of salt. After all, the TV ads calling out out-of-state funding and hypocrisy may well be paid for by out-of-state hypocrites.

Richard Mourdock and Dick Lugar (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, Pool)

Holt’s candor — be it serious or self-deprecating — is refreshing. Indeed, he has listed the same occupation on contributions this cycle to Senate hopeful Ted Cruz (R-TX), Congressional hopeful and former Rep. Charles Djou (R-HI), and unsuccessful Presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). But the interests of scores of other donors to Mourdock’s campaign — and its “independent” supporters — may be less obvious.

Tuesday’s closely watched Indiana Senate Republican primary will not just determine whether six-term Sen. Dick Lugar or state Treasurer Mourdock will face Rep. Joe Donnelly (D) this November. It will also mean the end of a $4.4 million independent expenditure war between a wide array of Super PACs and 501(c)(4)s — the largest amount of any non-presidential race so far this cycle. Though Lugar’s campaign, at of the last reporting period, had outspent Mourdock’s $6.6 million to $2 million, Murdock’s haul fundraising is impressive for a primary challenger and the gap has been partially made up by the $2.6 million to $1.8 million advantage he’s enjoyed in outside group spending.

Among the biggest forces backing Mourdock:

• The Club for Growth — led by former Rep. Chris Chocola (R-IN), the Club’s 501(c)(4), traditional PAC, and its Club for Growth Action Super PAC have spent at least $1.6 million on ads backing Mourdock and blasting Lugar. The group calls Lugar a “R.I.N.O.” (Republican In Name Only) despite his 63 percent lifetime record of voting with the group’s anti-government agenda.
• FreedomWorks for America — former Rep. Dick Armey’s (R-TX) “astroturf” group has done mailings and run ads saying Lugar has “lost touch with Indiana values,” spending over $545,000.
• Gun rights groups — The National Rifle Association has spent more than $322,000 on independent expenditures, criticizing Lugar’s votes to confirm President Obama’s Supreme Court appointments. A trio of pro-gun political action committees have donated about $10,000 to Mourdock’s campaign.
• The financial sector — although Lugar voted against the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform bill, political action committees for banks and related interests contributed over $17,500 to Moudorck’s campaign and individuals listed as working in the industry kicked in another $35,000-plus.
• Wealthy investors — About $20,000 of Mourdock’s donations came from wealthy investors and investment management executives.
• Big polluters — Mourock, himself a former coal company executive, got $5,000 from Murray Energy’s PAC (representing the nation’s largest privately-owned coal company) and more than $18,000 in individual contributions from employees and executives at Murray and other coal, oil, and gas companies.

With one of the key pro-Lugar groups pulling its ads over the weekend, it is quite possible that the man tied with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) for the longest tenure of any current Senate Republican may see his political career ended by the man backed by those groups — and a self-described “slumlord.”