Mourdock, Lugar file for May ballot

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Republican State Treasurer Richard Mourdock will be on the ballot in the May primary for U.S. Senate, as will longtime Sen. Richard Lugar, whom Mourdock is trying to unseat.

Mourdock filed the required petition signatures at the Secretary of State's office Tuesday morning, surrounded by people who support his bid to oust Lugar. Mourdock said he will win because Lugar is out of touch with conservatives in Indiana.

He's had difficulty raising money, but he said that won't be a factor.

"I knew we would be a starving campaign until about this point," Mourdock said. "When you get to that last four or five months, that's when people around the country pay attention, and our contributions have gone up dramatically. And I think they're going to continue to go up. We're going to have the money we need."

Lugar's petitions were hand-delivered to the state later Tuesday, the campaign said in a news release.

"Lugar volunteers fanned out just days ago to deliver our campaign's 6,386 pages of petitions showing thousands of signatures supporting Senator Lugar's candidacy for re-election," said Emily Krueger, Lugar's statewide campaign manager.

By law, U.S. Senate candidates for Indiana must present at least 500 verified voter signatures from each of the state's nine Congressional districts to qualify for ballot placement by the Indiana Secretary of State. The signatures are first checked by local officials, who verify the individuals are registered voters and the signatures match election records.