Former Dream Act supporter Dick Lugar loses primary to Tea Party challenger

Republican foreign policy elder statesman Sen. Richard Lugar, 80, first elected to the Senate in 1976, was defeated in the Indiana primary Tuesday by state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who was backed by conservatives ranging from the National Rifle Association to local Tea Party activists to the Washington-based fiscal conservative group the Club for Growth.

Mourdock appeared to be headed for a landslide victory.

With more than 70 percent of the precincts reporting, Mourdock was winning 60 percent of the vote.

In a statement Tuesday night once the outcome was clear, Cornyn said Mourdock "has the NRSC’s full support and we are committed to helping elect him as Indiana’s next U.S. Senator in November."

Now, Jim DeMint said, "he needs our support now more than ever. Mourdock is virtually defenseless after spending everything he had to win the primary election. The Democrats are going to come at him very hard in the next few weeks and work to brand him as an extremist. We need to act quickly to replenish Mourdock's war chest so he can get the truth out about his record and vision for the future of this country."

As DeMint noted, Democrats quickly issued statements alleging that Mourdock is "extreme."

Mourdock criticized Lugar for voting for Obama’s two Supreme Court nominees and for his vote to end a filibuster on the Democratic-sponsored DREAM Act which many conservatives see as merely a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

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