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New DSCC Ad Portrays Mourdock as Radical

By Julie Sobel // September 18, 2012 | 2:20 p.m.

Updated at 5:00 p.m.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is launching their new television ad in the Indiana Senate race, charging GOP nominee Richard Mourdock with having "radical ideas" that he wants to "inflict" on people.

The ad opens with a May TV clip of Mourdock saying, "To me the highlight of politics, frankly, is to inflict my opinion on someone else."

A narrator then says Mourdock thinks Social Security is unconstitutional, would raise the retirement age and cut benefits, and has called his own plan "painful."

The ad mirrors Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly's strategy of painting Mourdock as too extreme for the state. Donnelly's last ad focused on Mourdock's anti-bipartisanship comments, and also highlighted the "inflict my opinion" comment.

Both the DSCC and the National Republican Senatorial Committee are going up in Indiana this week, indicating both sides see the race -- which was once viewed as a likely GOP hold -- as a battleground. Recent polls showing a dead heat back that up.

The NRSC's ad ties Donnelly to the "Obama Pelosi agenda," hitting him on votes for a "$800 billion stimulus," a "$1.7 trillion government takeover of health care," and a "taxpayer funded bailout of Wall Street banks."