Sen. Richard Lugar's campaign came down to one word Friday: "help."
In the political equivalent of an SOS, the Navy veteran urged Hoosiers of any political persuasion who like what he's done in his 36-year career in the Senate to help him stay there.
"Every person in Indiana who wants me to continue, every person wherever they might be at this point, I encourage them to come out," he said. "Come out immediately, as fast as you can."
The reason for the urgency: The primary election is Tuesday, and a new poll shows state Treasurer Richard Mourdock defeating Lugar, 48 percent to 38 percent.
That's a dramatic slide for Lugar, who won in 2006 with more than 80 percent of the vote after Democrats didn't field a candidate against him. Only a month ago, another Howey/DePauw Indiana Battleground poll showed Lugar leading Mourdock, 42 percent to 35 percent.
Robert Dion, a University of Evansville political science professor, summed it up simply: "devastating."
Mourdock's campaign spokesman, Chris Conner, said the poll -- taken Monday and Tuesday of 700 likely GOP primary voters statewide, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points -- confirms what that campaign has believed:
"Hoosiers are tired of Senator Lugar's willingness to support liberal causes in Washington, they feel he is out of touch with the values they hold dear and they firmly believe it is time for a change."
The usually staid Lugar was animated as he made his last-ditch appeal at his Broad Ripple headquarters while volunteers called voters to urge their support.
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