Indiana Senator Richard Lugar lost a Republican primary challenge last week by over 20 points to State Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Lugar, who’d been a U.S. Senator for six terms (36 years), was considered a moderate and Mourdock a conservative.
The predominate view in the mainstream press was that Lugar’s loss was a tragedy, a sign that the Tea Party was taking over the Republican Party, and that the world as we know it, is coming to an end.