Lugar, Mourdock make final pleas for votes in Indiana primary
WASHINGTON -- In an election day push as a tea party challenger tries to unseat veteran GOP Sen. Richard Lugar in Indiana’s closely watched primary, both sides have hammered a simple message: Every vote matters.
The get-out-the-vote drive has been intense and Richard Mourdock, the state treasurer trying to oust Lugar, asked supporters for a promise that they would go to the polls.
“Even better, would you commit to bringing a friend with you?” Mourdock asked in an email blast.
Lugar, in the fight for his political life after 35 years in the Senate, was more direct: “I need your vote.”
Both sides have vowed a robust get-out-the-vote effort, and the results could provide a chance to assess those strategies.
Lugar touts the 1.4 million telephone calls his campaign has made to voters -- a feat in a state where robo-calls are limited by law and a real person must be on the line.
Yet Mourdock’s campaign is backed by the FreedomWorks ground game -- an army of volunteers using sophisticated social networking tools to organize and get out the vote.
Early voting has been difficult to gauge as the secretary of state said last week that turnout so far had been low.
Many see the race as a tossup. The outcome will determine which Republican will go on to face Rep. Joe Donnelly, the likely Democratic nominee, in fall.
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Original source: Lugar, Mourdock make final pleas for votes in Indiana primary
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