Tea Party working to unseat Lugar

TIPTON, Ind. (WANE) - Nearly 200 Tea Party members from across Indiana gathered in Tipton, IN Saturday morning at the Heartland Ministries Church.
 

Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate wants smaller Tea Party organizations in the state to join forces and unite behind one candidate in the 2012 U.S Senate Primary.

Pat Miller, radio talk show host for 1190 WOWO said, “What we found in the last senate election was when the Tea Parties pushed their particular candidate, but didn't rally behind a conservative candidate, they got the candidate that none of them wanted and we can't repeat that,”

Approximately 70 smaller Tea Party organizations were represented at Saturday’s meeting.

“Even though a lot of these groups are smaller, once they organize together they become a much larger force to deal with,” said D.K Smith, Tea Party member. “And if we're on the same path and we're making the same choices, then we can make a bigger impact on anything that we do.”

Its goal is to defeat U.S Senator Richard Lugar during the Senate Primary in 2012. Members in attendance signed a letter requesting that Lugar resign at the end of his current term.

“This letter will let him know, thank you for what you've done. We respect you greatly as a person and for what you've done in the past,” Pat Miller said. “But to go forward, we feel it's going to need to be a different candidate.”

This is just the beginning of what's sure to be a long process. Miller said Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate will now focus on educating the public about Senator Lugar’s record and raising campaign money for the 2012 race.

The most difficult decision may be selecting a “unity” candidate. The party said the search to identifying and rally around one conservative candidate will conclude after a thorough and exhaustive vetting process.