Indiana Senate Race: Tea Party Leaders Say Anti-Lugar Formula Can Be Used In Other States

Sen. Richard Lugar

WASHINGTON -- A week after unseating a six-term incumbent senator, leaders of FreedomWorks, a national Tea Party organization, said they have the winning formula to install a conservative majority in the Senate.

The group told HuffPost that the process used by a Hoosier Tea Party coalition to defeat U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) in last week's Republican primary can be duplicated in other states going forward. The plan includes unifying various Tea Party groups in a state, focusing on a singular candidate and message, and grassroots-level activism.

Leaders of Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate, an umbrella group of Indiana's 80 Tea Party groups said the coalition was formed in 2010 with the intent to defeat Lugar after the senator voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagen. The group's leaders said Lugar's vote for Kagen, following his vote in 2009 to confirm Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, showed he was not a conservative voice in the Senate.

"It was the last straw," Greg Fettig, the coalition's co-founder told HuffPost.

Working with fellow co-founder Monica Boyer, the pair worked to unify the famously independent Tea Party under one umbrella group with the goal of defeating Lugar. They said the 2010 GOP primary win of Sen. Dan Coats in Indiana over Tea Party favorites showed them the need to unify around one candidate, said Fettig.

"It we could unite them around a singular cause, we could have an army," he said.

The group started by organizing meetings with Tea Party leaders from around the state to discuss defeating Lugar, based on the senator's Supreme Court nominations, earmarks and position on border security. Facing distrust from local Tea Party groups about a statewide organization, the duo said the umbrella group tasked local activists with promoting grassroots politics in the state.

The organization organized the state by congressional district and gave out individual tasks. Fettig said the group started finding individual groups working on their own with the goal of defeating Lugar. Boyer and Fettig said the group backed State Treasurer Richard Mourdock in the primary after seeing him speak at a Washington rally.

Mourdock defeated Lugar and now faces Rep. Joe Donnelly (D) in a November general election.

Among the tasks divvied up were knocking on doors and distributing information. Boyer said that Tea Party members obtained lists of houses to visit on their own without consulting the state coalition or FreedomWorks, an effort the coalition supported.

Ryan Hecker, FreedomWorks chief operating officer, said the group hopes to utilize the Indiana strategy in other states this year and going forward. He said the group has seen success with similar practices in Texas where Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz is battling Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a U.S. Senate primary and in Utah where Dan Liljenquist is trying to unseat Sen. Orrin Hatch in a Republican primary. The group also sees the model helping Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) in his campaign to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

Hecker said that the group primarily sees the Indiana strategy as being effective in 2014 in multiple states, including South Carolina, where a large GOP field is expected in an open seat race. He said the group is aiming for a conservative majority within a Republican Senate majority.

Russ Walker from FreedomWorks said he believes the Indiana model be effective nationally. "There is no better messager than the guy on your cul de sac," Walker said.

The Hoosier activists said they cannot wait to spread their message. "There was a methodical process and blueprint that Indiana is excited to share with the world," Boyer said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this piece incorrectly named Mr. Fettig as a Mr. Faetting. It has been edited to reflect the correct spelling.

Comments

[eztempo]

06:27 PM on 05/24/2012

Deluded "small government" extremists combined with Big PHARMA and Big Oil money just might be a formula ... but I doubt it's a formula for electoral success outside of the currently insane Republican Party.

[davidapollo]

08:44 PM on 05/19/2012

The Tea Baggers offer NO solutions, they're merely ANTI-everything.

[ahlahla]

03:21 PM on 05/19/2012

Meanwhile, We have only three years 240 days left to the end of the earth, according to Al Gore. Also, Ted Danzen's 10-year prediction in1989 was allowed to expire. Just in case you global warming nuts are counting.

[nazztea]

01:45 PM on 05/22/2012

Well, then you don't need to vote, do you?

[town281guy]

06:48 PM on 05/29/2012

Fanned and Favorited

[dawgspiel]

12:05 PM on 05/19/2012

Install a conservative majority? You mean it could get worse? Uh oh.

[PatrickforO]

11:52 AM on 05/19/2012

Don't confuse me with the facts! Full speed ahead!

[alice sophia]

11:45 AM on 05/19/2012

Sarah Palin must be thinking she could be making a come back. Lots of luck GOP in continuing to eat you own.

[PatrickforO]

11:41 AM on 05/19/2012

Sure, their campaign strategy will work. Unless people fully realize the horrible implications of statements like this one, made by Rick Williams, a 'radical conservative' candidate:

"No “incremental” measures; no tinkering around the edges; no happy talk; and most of all . . . no compromise."

No compromise in a republic? No compromise when our founders purposely created the executive and legislative branches to FORCE compromise? Isn't compromise how we move forward? How do we know this guy's budget ideas will work? Will we be better off or worse off? Because if there's no compromise, and he's wrong, then we're gonna be in a pretty deep hole if we go that way.

[Tim Bos]

03:25 PM on 05/20/2012

Look around you Patrick. The hole we're in is deeper and wider than at any time in the passed 150 yrs, and the GOP compromised their Conservative ideals in exchange for what you see now. Please understand that the goal is to merely undo the results of the last 20 yrs, to return to the majesty that your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles lived in, and to merely live within our means. If that's what you call radical, then so be it. But don't think for a minute that a majority of Americans don't remember those not so distant good old days, or realize that the Euro version of a socialist democracy is a slow death for us.

[PatrickforO]

04:15 PM on 05/20/2012

Well, Patrick said, slightly but not entirely placated, I have looked around me. I see the worst imbalance in wealth we've had since 1929. If you really want to return to that 'majesty' then we need to get the defense budget UNDER CONTROL, back down to 1990's levels, dramatically increase Congressional oversight on the CIA, end the war on drugs, ensure the big corporations are paying their fair share of taxes, end the Bush cuts, keep college affordable, social security and medicare well funded, and enact policies that support a stong, well paid middle class.

[PatrickforO]

04:16 PM on 05/20/2012

Might be a good idea too, to move the power to declare war back to Congress, so there can be serious debate before we spend $2.3 trillion on a couple 'nice little wars' the executive branch wants. Oh, that's already happened.

[yappy1953]

11:28 AM on 05/19/2012

Great, let them think that defeating an 80 y/o career politician was as simple as running a tea party candidate and it that is the formula everywhere.

[cilantro518]

10:46 AM on 05/19/2012

You would think that Richard Lugar's head mounted on a Tea Party wall would be a welcomed sight to Democrats. Nope.

[krondool]

02:14 AM on 05/20/2012

Considering their 'no compromise' stance, and desire and ability to turn on their own for daring to stand up for what they believe, I don't find it welcome at all. Turning on their own for daring to work together to make the country better hardly makes me more open to them, it just shows their insane, rank-closing zealotry. And causes me to fear them all the more.

[runtwelds]

10:22 AM on 05/19/2012

The teabaggers have found a winning strategy alright. A way to destroy the antiquated GOP.

[ColinFromLasVegas]

10:16 AM on 05/19/2012

I wholeheartedly encourage the Tea Party's ongoing efforts to rip the Republican Party to shreds.

And what's left over, the sane people out here will take care of on November 6, 2012 when we vote them all out.

Because it's clear the Tea/Republicans cannot fix their own stupid political party, we'll fix it for them. Perhaps then they can re-build it with people and not a howling pack of mad dogs.

I mean to tell you people that I'm sick and tired of being treated like a victim waiting to happen all the time by the predators in the Tea/Republican Party.

Obama for four years. AND a Democratic Party majority in both the House and the Senate.

[NewLiberals]

10:11 AM on 05/19/2012

"The Hoosier activists said they cannot wait to spread their message. "There was a methodical process and blueprint that Indiana is excited to share with the world," Boyer said."

A Blueprint for disaster.

[lulian1950]

10:10 AM on 05/19/2012

let say you vote romney ,and you think he will be strong president you kidding ,he cannot do any step if tea and so call conservative party will babtize him to change faith and to be advise from any one in republican tea party ,they will jeopardise him, even he want to do just a business for him self he will be sick if he will be stop him for doing business,for that reason he will give more tax cut for mill-bill so his door will be open, for you just his nasty fake smile,baby puppet ,

[krondool]

02:17 AM on 05/20/2012

Um, I think I might agree with you, but if you could please switch sides I'd appreciate it. Your rambling incoherence only makes whichever side you're on look...dumber. Sorry, nothing personal, but well-formed thoughts in sentences with some form of structure will help our case more then, well, random rants jumbled together in illiterate formats.

[barackvspalin]

10:03 AM on 05/19/2012

.

is this what we want from our federal gov't:

Davis High School has been fined $15,000 after they were caught selling soda pop during lunch hour, which is a violation of federal law.
.

[lhoffman5]

10:01 AM on 05/19/2012

The language in this article is why the Tea Party is a menace to America. They say they want to repair America, they offer no plans,to do so, platitudes lots plans no! The are focused on a narrow range of self serving ideals that will benefit them greatly and harm the Country even more. Using the defeat of Sen. Lugar was a one issue campaign "he voted for a Supreme Court Justice, the tea party did not like" The truth is that Mr. Lugar lost the election on his own. He had in effect moved from the state to Washington D C.. In effect after 36 years of service the States residents felt that he had lost touch with home. The tea party can claim credit, it actually just was along for the ride. In the over all scheme of things the Tea Party can not win the big prize because they do not really represent America only their extremist portion of things is theirs. Short term success does not translate into long term victory, and that will hold true in this case as usual. The history books are full of stories like the Tea Party, and they have all failed!

[yappy1953]

11:33 AM on 05/19/2012

It is amazing how the complexity of an election is lost on tea partiers. Thanks for putting this "win" in context. As shown since the mid terms, the radical right doesn't want to know why an election was won, just if a tea partier wins one.