Lugar sitting on $3M campaign war chest

Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) raised just over $973,000 in the first quarter of the year, his campaign announced Monday, easily outraising his GOP primary challenger. 

The longtime senator, who faces a challenge from the right next year from Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, will report more than $3 million cash on hand.

{mosads}Mourdock’s camp will report raising $159,000 during the first quarter, and has said throughout that the candidate doesn’t expect to best Lugar when it comes to fundraising.

“I’m enthusiastic about a great campaign that our supporters are waging,” Lugar said in a statement. “We started this campaign months ago because I wanted to be clear about my intention to seek reelection in 2012.”

Lugar’s camp touted donations from close to 5,000 individual donors so far this cycle, 88 percent of which are from donors in Indiana, according to the campaign. 

In announcing his first-quarter haul, Lugar took a shot at national Tea Party activists who have signaled that they hope to play a role in ousting him in next year’s primary.

“The funds raised in this first quarter of 2011 lay a solid foundation for all of the activity my campaign team is initiating throughout Indiana,” Lugar said. “We are building a solid grassroots organization of supporters, givers and volunteers across Indiana. They will ward off any outside groups that want to dictate their own agenda on Hoosiers.”

—Updated at 11:50 a.m.