DSCC Executive Director Guy Cecil issued a memo Wednesday morning suggesting that Indiana Senate nominee Richard Mourdock would be the next Ken Buck, the tea party nominee in Colorado in 2010 whose extreme positions cost him his Senate race. “By defeating Dick Lugar and nominating Richard Mourdock, the Tea Party has done it again, handing another strong pick-up opportunity to Democrats,” the memo reads. The memo outlines areas where Democrats think Mourdock is too extreme, making him vulnerable even though he’s a Republican in a red state:
· Mourdock spent $2 million of taxpayer money on a lawsuit that could have endangered 124,000 Indiana jobs – including 4,000 high paying jobs in Kokomo, Indiana – by killing the Chrysler’s bankruptcy restructuring. Mourdock called the lawsuit his “Rosa Parks moment.” Mourdock’s Tea Party opposition to the entire auto industry rescue could have cost the state 140,000 jobs in total.
· In his defense, Mourdock says, “I didn’t take a pledge that I would support every job in Indiana under whatever means it takes to do it.”
· Mourdock says that “I think there needs to be more partisanship” in Washington.
· Mourdock has questioned the constitutionality of Social Security and Medicare.
It concludes: “Last night’s results make Indiana a prime pick up opportunity for Democrats. There are a lot of longtime Lugar supporters waking up this morning and looking for a mainstream moderate. Richard Mourdock’s ideological extremism doesn’t fit the bill. Joe Donnelly does.”
