Indiana Senate race - Stutzman gets applause, Coats gets outed
Jim DeMint is coming out for Marlin Stutzman. This comes on the heels of Dave Keene of the American Conservative Union and Mark Levin. Conservatives are rallying to the Indiana state senator.
Here’s the thing: this endorsement puts Jim DeMint out on a limb and really at odds with his colleagues in the U.S. Senate Republican Conference, particularly coming on the heels of his support for Ken Buck in Colorado.
Helping get Marlin Stutzman elected now has a lot to do with sticking up for Jim DeMint. He is going to bat for real conservatives. His record proves it. We need to stand up with Jim DeMint.
It has been more than a decade since Dan Coats left the United States Senate representing Indiana and moved to North Carolina to take up lobbying.
I’m finding in my conversations with people that many remember a different Dan Coats than who was actually there. The pro-life Senator was squishy on a lot of other things. In fact, Dan Coats is pretty bad on gun rights and recently renounced some of his old positions, while still trying to defend them with language used by Barack Obama on gang violence.
But what about a pretty good measure of those issues on which Dan Coats was bad to remind people of Indiana that they have a real choice and Marlin Stutzman really is to the right of Coats? It’s not a measure of the man, but of his votes — we all accept he is a fine man and a social conservative. But those are rarely the votes that matter these days.
Republicans think if they vote pro-life we’ll give them a pass on everything else. But we can’t. So what of Dan Coats on all the other issues?
Dick Lugar, Indiana’s other Republican senator is widely seen as a moderate — one of those centrist Republicans beloved by the Washington media. So how does Dan Coats stack up against Dick Lugar?
They served together in the Senate. How about this record I’ve got together on their votes? You might be stunned. From nuclear energy to federal regulation to taxes, Coats is to the left of Dick Lugar.
Think about that then think about supporting Marlin Stutzman. Remember, it is not enough that we restore the GOP to power if we don’t change the nature of the GOP.
The chart is below the fold. We’ll see if Indiana really remembers the man who left in Evan Bayh’s care so he could move to North Carolina.
| Vote Description | Coats | Lugar | Date | Vote # | ||||||
| Mandate that all banks have Check cashing service for Govt checks | Yes | No | 6/27/1990 | 130 | ||||||
| Expand Clean Air Act Mandates | Yes | No | 3/21/1990 | 37 | ||||||
| Mandate taxpayer funded benefits for laid-off auto workers | Yes | No | 9/24/1990 | 246 | ||||||
| Cut Funding for MX Missile Program. | Yes | No | 9/26/1991 | 208 | ||||||
| Mandate that employers provide 12 weeks of family and medical leave. | Yes | No | 10/2/1991 | 215 | ||||||
| Allow employers to provide family and medical leave in a more flexible manner | No | Yes | 10/2/1991 | 216 | ||||||
| Bail out pensions when companies default on pension obligations. | Yes | No | 11/19/1991 | 257 | ||||||
| Federal Regulation of Cable Television industry | Yes | No | 1/31/1992 | 14 | ||||||
| Federal Regulation of natural gas pipeline rates | Yes | No | 2/19/1992 | 22 | ||||||
| Pro-growth tax cuts. | No | Yes | 3/11/1992 | 39 | ||||||
| Eliminate the 20% state matching requirement for transportation programs. | Yes | No | 5/20/1992 | 101 | ||||||
| Federal Regulation of Cable Television Industry | Yes | No | 2/19/1992 | 22 | ||||||
| $1B in social welfare spending and CDBG Grants | Yes | No | 7/2/1992 | 146 | ||||||
| Federally Mandated Family and Medical Leave Veto override | Yes | No | 9/24/1992 | 232 | ||||||
| Federal Regulation of Cable Television Industry Veto override | Yes | No | 10/5/1992 | 264 | ||||||
| Tax incentives for employers who provide family and medical leave. | No | Yes | 2/3/1993 | 1 | ||||||
| Allow employers to provide family medical leave as part of cafeteria plans | No | Yes | 2/3/1993 | 4 | ||||||
| Federally Mandated Family and Medical Leave | Yes | No | 2/4/1993 | 11 | ||||||
| Increase statute of limitations for lawsuits by RTC | Yes | No | 5/13/1993 | 119 | ||||||
| Defund unauthorized earmarks | No | Yes | 7/29/1993 | 226 | ||||||
| Cancel the Space Station | Yes | No | 9/21/1993 | 272 | ||||||
| Prohibit the death penalty for any crime committed by someone under 18 | Yes | No | 11/8/1993 | 358 | ||||||
| Federal crime against carjacking | No | Yes | 11/9/1993 | 361 | ||||||
| Mandatory sentences for using firearms in commission of drug or violent crime | No | Yes | 11/9/1993 | 362 | ||||||
| Habeas Corpus Reform | No | Yes | 11/17/1993 | 374 | ||||||
| Expand Federal spending on unemployment benefits with phony offsets. | Yes | No | 11/20/1993 | 392 | ||||||
| Bankruptcy Reform. | No | Yes | 4/20/1994 | 95 | ||||||
| Offshore Drilling | No | Yes | 5/18/1994 | 120 | ||||||
| Mandatory minimums for violent crimes with guns and death penalty for murderers. | No | Yes | 5/19/1994 | 126 | ||||||
| To provide military retirees the same COLA made available to civilian retirees. | No | Yes | 7/1/1994 | 182 | ||||||
| Require payment of fair market value for mining patents. | No | Yes | 8/8/1995 | 372 | ||||||
| Allow seniors to choose their own doctor under Medicare. | No | Yes | 10/26/1995 | 508 | ||||||
| Increase taxes on hardrock mining. | Yes | No | 10/27/1995 | 540 | ||||||
| Nuclear Power | No | Yes | 7/16/1996 | 193 | ||||||
| Condition repeal of Cuba Sanctions upon a Democratically elected govt in Cuba | No | Yes | 4/30/1996 | 91 | ||||||
| Repeal Davis Bacon wage mandates | No | Yes | 5/22/1996 | 134 | ||||||
| Nuclear Power | No | Yes | 7/31/1996 | 259 | ||||||
| Increase grazing fees on Federal lands. | Yes | No | 9/17/1996 | 291 | ||||||
| Nuclear Power | No | Yes | 4/10/1997 | 36 | ||||||
| Nuclear Power | No | Yes | 4/15/1997 | 42 | ||||||
| Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor in Clinton Admin | Yes | No | 4/30/1997 | 54 | ||||||
| Allow state and local control of discipline in schools. | No | Yes | 5/14/1997 | 64 | ||||||
| Increase taxes on hardrock mining. | Yes | No | 6/26/1997 | 131 | ||||||
| Increase taxes on mining certain substances. | Yes | No | 6/27/1997 | 158 | ||||||
| 5% increase in taxes on mining. | Yes | No | 9/18/1997 | 249 | ||||||
| Require a frivolous taxpayer funded study of former welfare recipients for the purpose of proving welfare reform was unfair. (Coats was the only Republican to vote yes) | Yes | No | 3/3/1998 | 19 | ||||||
| Personal retirement accounts in Social Security. | No | Yes | 4/1/1998 | 56 | ||||||
| Increase funding for Juvenile law enforcement and detention by reducing juvenile delinquency “prevention” programs. | No | Yes | 7/22/1998 | 220 | ||||||
| Make it a Federal crime to tape a phone call unless all parties gave prior consent | Yes | No | 7/22/1998 | 225 | ||||||
| Prohibit paying court appointed defense attorneys in capital cases more than defense attorneys in such cases | No | Yes | 7/23/1998 | 230 | ||||||
| Increase taxes on hardrock mining | Yes | No | 9/15/1998 | 268 | ||||||
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