Donnelly dominating airwaves in US Senate campaign - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Candidates for Indiana's open US Senate seat are taking different approaches to the race. The three-way race for Senate includes Democrat Joe Donnelly, Republican Richard Mourdock and Libertarian Andrew Horning.

The Mourdock campaign received an expected endorsement from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Thursday. The GOP Senate nominee could not resist taking the opportunity to take a shot at President Barack Obama's health care reform plan.

"Additional taxes will not get the economy growing again but these people behind me can," Mourdock said.

Congressman Joe Donnelly is in Washington where he once again voted in favor of that plan, but he has been a constant on television.

The latest Donnelly ad proclaims, "Richard Mourdock insists on tax breaks for Wall Street and oil companies and like that one guy in the stands, he thinks he has all the answers. 'Hey, Donnelly, my way or the highway.' You know nothing gets done by yelling from the bleachers. It's time for Hoosier common sense.">

The Donnelly campaign announced it raised over $900,000 in the second quarter.

"We think Hoosier voters deserve to know who Joe is. He needs to introduce himself as the common sense, bipartisan guy that he is," said Elizabeth Shappell, Donnelly campaign.

It was always expected that Joe Donnelly would be the first on up on television. He needed to define himself and his message to a whole new statewide audience. But in this case, the surprise is that Mourdock still is not up as his opponent has turned his attention to defining him.

"We have our strategy. We have our game plan. We watch the numbers where the public is reacting to things and I feel very confident about where we are at," Mourdock said.

Concern over health care reform has certainly motivated John Raine. Raine runs a small nylon gear company for the military in Anderson. On Thursday he made the drive to Indianapolis to underscore the endorsement with a point.

"I too have been experiencing 20 percent-plus increases in premiums every year. It makes labor more expensive and when that happens you hire less," said Raine.

That got Mourdock an endorsement from small business, but Donnelly is taking his case to the masses on the small screen.