After Republicans reclaimed their majority status in the House in the 2010 election, many pundits predicted the party would have an easy time capturing the Senate in 2012. There are, after all, only 10 GOP senators up for reelection, compared to 23 Democrats. And Republicans seemed to be successfully riding a wave of anti-government sentiment to victory against an embattled president.

But as one political showdown after another has illustrated just how beholden congressional Republicans are to extreme right-wing interests, their prospects for retaking both chambers have grown dimmer.

Republican Sen. Dick Lugar (IN) recently reinforced that sentiment in an interview with CNN, explaining that the Tea Pary’s insidious influence has pushed out moderate elements of the party:

LUGAR: Republicans lost the seats for Nevada, and New Jersey, for example, and Colorado. There were people who claimed that they wanted somebody who was more of their Tea Party aspect. But in doing so they killed off the Republican chances for a majority. This is one of the reasons we have a minority in the Senate right now.

Watch it, courtesy of Mediaite:

Lugar is facing his own Tea Party primary challenger. If Republicans lose his seat, their chances of winning a Senate majority become even shakier.

Sens. Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) are similar in many ways — they are the two most senior Republicans in the Senate, both are well-liked by colleagues of both parties, and both have shown a willingness to work across the aisle, much to the chagrin of conservative purists. Because of their relative moderation, both are also sure to face tea party-driven primary challenges in 2012, yet their reactions to this threat could not be more different.

Hatch, acutely aware of the fate that befell former Utah GOP senator Bob Bennett (he lost his seat to a tea party challenger last year), has jumped head first into the tea party movement in recent weeks in an attempt to pass himself off as one of their own. He even appears to have invited himself to a Tea Party Express town hall last night in Washington featuring right-wing favorites like Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). At the event, which ThinkProgress attended, Hatch took every opportunity possible to pander to the tea party:

– “I’ve been watching what the Tea Party does. I’m very impressed,” Hatch said.

– “I’m often accused of having been a tea partier before there even was such as term, and I’m okay with that.”

– “It’s time for America to take back America and the Tea Party will play a role in that.”

Lugar, on the other hand, has stood firm by his record and values, defending the need for bipartisanship and making it clear that he won’t be pushed around by the tea party or “kowtow” to their special interests:

– Lugar refuses to “kowtow” to the tea party: “A lot of conservatives believe you have to kowtow to the Tea Party. We reject that premise,” Lugar spokesperson Mark Helmke told the New York Times last week.

– Lugar told the tea party to “get real”: “I’ve got to say ‘Get real’ [when] I hear Tea Party or other people talking about they were against START,” Lugar told a local TV station.

– Lugar said the tea party has few real ideas: “In essence, they are unhappy about life in America and they want to express themselves,” Lugar said. But while they say “we want this or that stopped,” their demands are empty “cliché,” and “they are not able to articulate all the specifics,” Lugar told US News.

At the tea party event last night, ThinkProgress asked Hatch about Lugar’s remark that the tea party needs to “get real.” Hatch, at first skeptical that Lugar would dare say such a thing, replied, “I would never say that. I think they are real.” Watch it:

Hatch’s newfound love of the tea party is especially interesting considering that just one year ago, Hatch sound a lot like Lugar does now. In February of 2010, Hatch blamed the tea party for the loss of Republican lawmaker, saying, “If we fractionalize the Republican Party, we are going to see more liberals elected.” And asked to explain Bennett’s loss in May, Hatch suggested that tea party activists “don’t have an open mind and they won’t listen.”

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) has been one of the few GOP lawmakers willing to make good faith efforts to work with President Obama, especially on foreign policy issues. Most recently, Lugar aggressively lobbied to pass the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia, and didn’t hesitate to call out members of his own party who spread misinformation about the treaty.

Lugar’s moderate stances and cooperation with the White House have earned him scorn from many conservatives, and tea party activists in Indiana are gearing up to field a primary challenger against Lugar in 2012. The senator has said he is ready for a challenge from his right, and this week, Lugar seemed to increase such a possibility by taking an opening shot at the tea party. As quoted by US News, Lugar said the conservative activists are “unhappy about life in America,” but traffic only in “cliché” and “are not able to articulate all the specifics”:

“I think there are a great number of Americans, not just in Indiana, who are genuinely angry about how things have turned out for them. Sometimes they are unemployed or they have family members who have been unemployed or they are in situations in which they feel a heavy governmental restriction of their activities. In essence, they are unhappy about life in America and they want to express themselves.”

Lugar says most just want to be heard, but really can’t focus on what’s bugging them. “We want this or that stopped or there is spending, big government—these are all, we would say, sort of large cliché titles, but they are not able to articulate all the specifics,” he says.

Lugar’s comments are a significant break from the typical Republican approach to the tea party, which is to embrace the movement with open arms and defend it vigorously against any and all criticism.

A group of over 70 Indiana tea party groups are planning to meet soon to choose a consensus candidate to challenge Lugar, and have already narrowed it down to two names. “After thirty years or so many years is it a sense of duty to the country or oneself?” tea party organizer Greg Fettig said of Lugar. “He’s outside what the mainstream conservative wing wants him to do,” Fettig added.

In November, former Missouri GOP senator John Danforth warned, “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.”

Throughout the 111th Congress, Republicans have pulled every stunt not only to obstruct the Democrat’s agenda, but also to prevent progress on any issue — including ones that have traditionally attracted bipartisan support. The lame duck session is proving to be no exception.

However, there is one Republican Senator who does appear willing to reach across the aisle. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) is a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act and has been leading the push to take up the New START arms control agreement. This morning, on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley, Lugar explained the logic behind his positions, stating the GOP must “never be the party of no”:

LUGAR: Many would say, and have said, “why do anything President Obama wants — something that gives him a victory?” Therefore, we’re the party of no. I think some of us said, “No, we are not the party of no. We must never be the party of no.”

CROWLEY: Are you winning or losing that side?

LUGAR: Oh, I think that remains to be seen. [...] The American people — angry as they are with Democrats with the tsunami that came in the election — are finally going to say to the Republicans, “Okay, now what are you guys going to do? What is your program?”

“Our program is to stop Obama,” some would say. “Our program is to defeat Obama. It’s a two-staged process. You defeat the Democrats first of all in the Congress and then you defeat Obama. Then, then we’ll come out and we’ll tell you.”

Well that’s not going to work. At some point there really has to be constructive Republican programs.

Watch it:

Lugar is up for reelection next year and the Tea Party has already warned that his positions may cost him his seat. Former GOP Sen. John Danforth is more worried about what the backlash against Lugar says about his own party. “We have gone so far overboard that we are beyond redemption,” stated Danforth about the Republican Party’s attack on Lugar. Nonetheless, Lugar is sticking to his guns, daring the Tea Party to challenge him in the 2012 Senate primary.

During his interview, Lugar also credited Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) with standing up to an obstructive, “rebellious” faction of the Republican Party. However, McConnell himself has indicated that “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”