Former senator Dan Coats won the GOP Senate nomination in Indiana last night by 40,000 votes.
Coats topped the five-candidate field with 40 percent of the vote. State Sen. Marlin Stutzman had 29 percent and former Rep. John Hostettler took 23 percent. Two minor candidates split the remainder of the Republican vote.
Stutzman, an up-and-coming conservative just barely old enough to run for Senate, ran an anti-establishment campaign against Coats, but didn't have the same success as Marco Rubio did in Florida. Why not?
First, Coats isn't as liberal as Charlie Christ. He had the backing of Tom Coburn, Mike Pence, and James Dobson. And while it may have been preferable to elect a young outsider like Stutzman--who could have held the seat for decades--he doesn't have the natural political talent that Rubio does.
A bigger reason why Stutzman didn't pull off an upset is that he simply didn't have enough time. The primary race between Stutzman and Coats only lasted three months--it took Rubio about seven months until he topped Crist in the polls.
And the biggest reason why Stutzman didn't win is that the other GOP candidates split the vote. If John Hostettler hadn't played spoiler, Stutzman might be the nominee today.