A Republican Elder (and Obama Friend) Fights On

At a moment when several Senators facing grim re-election prospects are throwing in the towel, I was starting to wonder whether Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana might join their ranks. Lugar, whose seat is up next fall, is a personal favorite of Democrats, especially on the foreign policy and national security issues around which he has built his political identity. Lugar even even mentored Barack Obama on nuclear nonproliferation, on which the Indianan has long done widely acclaimed work, when they served together in the Senate.

For similar reasons, however, Lugar is also highly vulnerable: He’s a longtime incumbent (elected in 1976), and a moderate by current Republican standards, one who seems to disdain the tide of sharp conservatism washing into his party. The mild-mannered Hoosier recently grew as exercised as anyone can remember when he angrily refuted conservative attacks on the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty. After the Tucson massacre, Lugar said he’d support renewing the federal assault weapons ban, a position that actually put him to the left of most Democrats. Throw in Lugar’s support for the TARP bailout and his vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and you can see why Indiana Tea Party activists will meet this weekend to plot a primary challenge against him.

The 78-year-old Lugar is not much of a political brawler, and retirement must be tempting, But yesterday he announced that he will seek re-election, and will attend a fundraiser this Friday he expects to rake in more than $300,000. Political survival might require trimmed sails, however. Within days of his assault weapons comment, Lugar had already reeled it back in. Watch to see whether pressure from a Tea Party challenger might influence Lugar’s other positions, including on the security issues that have made him one of the Obama White House’s few reliable Republican allies–possibly at the expense of Lugar’s electoral survival.