Mourdock won't heed Lugar's advice

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Fresh off of Tuesday's huge win over the longest-serving senator in Indiana history, U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock stopped in Fort Wayne Wednesday. After trouncing six-term incumbent Dick Lugar in the Republican primary, Mourdock spoke at the Allen County Republican Victory Luncheon, vowing not to change his political approach and refuting the notion that he is in any way an extremist.

Mourdock admitted that even he was stunned by his 20-point win.  "My first thought was [that] they must be speaking of one particular county, not the state as a whole, because we were really expecting results to be in about 9:30 and when the race was called at 7:22 we were stunned," said Mourdock.

Since his election night win, Mourdock said he hasn't yet talked to the man he defeated. But even without direct communication, Lugar has already sent a clear message. He issued a statement Tuesday night encouraging Mourdock to revise his political approach, saying Mourdock should become less partisan and less confrontational.

Mourdock said on Wednesday that he's not backing down, saying that those who are looking for bipartisanship on Capitol Hill aren't finding it because the major parties are extremely polarized. "I want to be a part of changing the argument nationally so Republicans can become the majority point of view, so that when we talk about bipartisanship we're trying to get Democrats to come our way rather than see Republicans going the other way," said Mourdock.

Republicans attending the luncheon seemed confident that Mourdock and Lugar will be able to put this spring's contentious primary behind them.

"I think that both of them together will work toward a very good transition," said Allen County Commissioner Therese Brown.

But will we see Lugar and Mourdock on the campaign trail together?

"Senator Lugar needs to make the decision that's best for Senator Lugar," said Mourdock. "Obviously, I would welcome it, but we're not going to ask him to do anything he would be uncomfortable doing."

Mourdock said that Governor Mitch Daniels and Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Pence have both agreed to campaign for him.

Unlike Lugar, if he's elected to the Senate, Mourdock said he would continue to own a home in Indiana. In fact, he said he would probably keep the two he has now.

It appears that Mourdock's opponent in the fall, Democrat Joe Donnelly, will try to cast the Republican as a rigid right wing extremist. Mourdock went out of his way to refute that notion Wednesday.

"Clearly I think he's looking at other races in other states where those who were labeled Tea Party candidates just didn't know the issues," said Mourdock. "They were so dogmatic about just a few issues they didn't have a broad base of support. Anyone who's looked at our candidacy knows that's not the case."