Politics: Twilight of the Moderates

Now playing: Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V at www.slatev.com.
Politics Twilight of the Moderates An early obituary for Sen. Richard Lugar, brought to you by the Tea Party. By David Weigel Posted Tuesday, May 08, 2012, at 04:34 PM ET The kegs of Allagash and Starr Hill microbrews were tapped—the new FreedomWorks office was christened. It was March 1, 2011, roughly 14 months before the key U.S. Senate primaries that Dick Armey's Tea Party group intended to win. Staffers for some of the new House and Senate members, plenty of them elected with FreedomWorks backing, strolled over from the Capitol for conversation and canapes.  In walked Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar. Awkward. Lugar was just the kind of Republican FreedomWorks wanted to purge. It had been a few weeks since a local news team asked Lugar why the Tea Party didn't like him, focusing on the senator's support of the new START Treaty. "I've got to say 'Get real,' " chuckled Lugar in the clip. But he had a lot of fence-mending time before his primary, so he and a staffer made the rounds at FreedomWorks. He was introduced to Matt Kibbe, the group's mutton-chopped president. Later, more awkwardly, he was introduced to him again. And then he left. "Some of our best allies had showed up," remembers Max Pappas, the executive director of FreedomWorks PAC.  "And then, we saw guys like Orrin Hatch and Lugar. They thought that coming by for a handshake might fix some of their problems. Yeah. As if we care to shake hands with politicians." Fourteen months later, FreedomWorks has held 15 local "activist training" events in Indiana, distributed more than 10,000 pieces of campaign swag, and organized thousands ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Dana Stevens: What It Was Like To Hang Out With Maurice Sendak Obesity Forecasters Think Nearly Half of America Will Be Fat by 2030. Are They Right? Things in Hollywood Don't Explode Anymore. They Implode.	Advertisement
Manage your newsletters subscription: Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Advertising Information
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to slatenewsletter@nl.slate.com. Copyright 2011 The Slate Group | Privacy Policy The Slate Group | c/o E-mail Customer Care | 1350 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 410 | Washington, D.C. 20036