This week there was a lot of buzz about a “mystery poll” showing the race for the Republican Senate nomination in Indiana much closer than expected. The mystery wasn’t solve but Survey USA did release what will probably be the only public poll of the GOP primary electorate, and it appeared to confirm the convenetional wisdom about the race: former Sen. Dan Coats led with 36 percent of the vote, former Rep. John Hostettler came next with 24 percent, and state Sen. Marlin Stutzman finished third with 18 percent. The other two candidates were in the single digits.
Stutzman has been picking up conservative endorsements and is now up on the air with ads attacking both Coats and Hostettler for their time in Washington. Critics of Stutzman pointed out that he isn’t a total Washington outsider himself, having worked as a special assistant to Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN). Perhaps a bigger problem criticism Stuztman is getting for voting for what some have described as the largest single business tax increase in Indiana history. Stutzman subsequently voted to delay the tax increase until after the election.