To:          Interested Parties

From:     National Republican Senatorial Committee

Re:          Indiana Republican Senate Primary

Date:       May 8, 2012

“As an officer in the U.S. Navy, Mayor of Indianapolis and a U.S. Senator for the last 36 years, Richard Lugar has served with honor and devoted his distinguished career to public service.  All Americans owe him a debt of gratitude.

“I congratulate Richard Mourdock on his victory tonight and I look forward to serving with him in the U.S. Senate.  He has the NRSC’s full support and we are committed to helping elect him as Indiana’s next U.S. Senator in November. 

“Hoosier voters are ready to put an end to Joe Donnelly and President Obama’s liberal agenda of  higher taxes, bigger government and reckless deficit spending.  That is why I am confident they will elect a proven statewide leader like Richard Mourdock who will fight every single day on behalf of Hoosier values, and not the Obama agenda.”

           – U.S. Senator John Cornyn, NRSC Chairman

For your background….

In order to dispel the same predictable spin that national Democrats made in support of Brad Ellsworth’s candidacy in 2010 – months before they chose not to invest a dollar in Indiana and Ellsworth lost by 15 points – a deeper examination of the facts is in order that outlines why Richard Mourdock will be the next senator from the great State of Indiana.

Indiana Is a Deeply Red State

• Indiana is a deeply red state where Republicans hold every statewide office and large majorities in the legislature;
• Indianapolis is the second largest city in the country led by a Republican mayor;
• Democrats have won only three of the last 22 statewide races in Indiana and no Democrat without the last name Bayh has been elected to the U.S. Senate from Indiana since 1970;
• Republican presidential nominees have carried Indiana in 9 of the past 10 consecutive cycles;
• Republicans now hold six of nine Congressional seats.

Indiana Trends

• In recent years, Democrats have struggled because heavily Republican communities in Central Indiana have grown and “conservative Democrats” in Southern Indiana have increasingly moved toward the Republican Party;
• The fast-growing “Donut Counties” around Indianapolis produce enough Republican votes to offset the Democrat margins from Lake and Marion Counties even in the best Democratic years;
• Democrats can no longer count on large margins from the blue collar industrial towns of Northern and Central Indiana – Richard Mourdock carried all of these counties in 2010;
• Southern Indiana continues moving away from Democrats – in 2008 and 2010 Republicans picked up both southern Indiana congressional seats, 11 seats in the State House, 3 seats in the State Senate, and dozens of county offices.

State Treasurer Mourdock

• In 2010, Richard Mourdock was Indiana’s leading vote-getter with 1,053,527 votes and defeated his opponent by a 62.5% to 37.5% margin;
• Mourdock carried 88 of Indiana’s 92 counties and received 101,000 more votes than U.S. Senator Dan Coats did in his 15-point victory over Brad Ellsworth;
• Mourdock carried his home county of Vanderburgh, the largest in southern Indiana, by a 2-to-1 margin in 2010;
• Mourdock received more votes in the 2^nd Congressional District than Joe Donnelly in 2010.

Joe Donnelly – Brad Ellsworth

• Joe Donnelly’s record is exactly the same as Brad Ellsworth, who lost by 15 points in 2010;
• Like Ellsworth, Donnelly  provided a key vote to pass ObamaCare;
• Like Ellsworth, Donnelly voted for the President’s wasteful stimulus;
• Like Ellsworth, Donnelly voted to bail out the big Wall Street banks;
• There is one area where Joe Donnelly and Brad Ellsworth diverge and that is fundraising.  Donnelly’s fundraising has been abysmal at best, raising less than any of the 10 House members running for Senate this cycle;
• In two straight quarters, Donnelly has raised half of what Ellsworth raised in his worst fundraising quarter;
• Richard Mourdock raised twice as much money last quarter as incumbent Congressman Donnelly.

National Democrats will continue spinning — just like they did two years ago — that somehow Joe Donnelly will be the next Senator from Indiana, even though two years ago they ultimately did not invest one dime in the state.

Richard Mourdock’s position on issues important to Hoosiers, his built-in statewide organization and ability to fundraise, coupled with Joe Donnelly’s pro-Obama voting record in a state that continues to trend toward Republicans makes clear why Mourdock will be the next Senator from the State of Indiana.