With the US-India nuclear deal still struggling to take off, Richard Lugar, (R-Indiana), one of its main architects in the US Senate, lost his seat after more than three decades to Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who will replace Lugar as the Republican candidate for the seat in the fall 2012 elections.
President Barack Obama in a statement expressed his “deep appreciation” for Lugar, who has a track record of unparalleled bipartisanship, a rarity in Washington’s current climate.
“While Dick and I didn’t always agree on everything, I found during my time in the Senate that he was often willing to reach across the aisle and get things done,” said Obama.
Praising Lugar’s foreign policy contributions, President Obama said, “My administration’s efforts to secure the world’s most dangerous weapons has been based on the work that Senator Lugar began, as well as the bipartisan cooperation we forged during my first overseas trip as Senator to Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.”
Lugar, who played a crucial role in the 2008 congressional passage of the US-India nuclear deal, has been critical of the Indian parliament’s delays over its implementation and said in February at the confirmation hearing of the US ambassador to India Nancy Powell, “This agreement remains important to the broad strategic advancement of the US-Indian relationship. But in the narrower context of nuclear trade with India, it has yet to bear significant fruit.”
Mourdock will face Joe Donnelly, a Democratic member of the House, in November. Mourdock, who came into the arena in February 2011, represents a coup for the populist Tea Party movement, its first significant Republican candidate of 2012. (IATNS)