, May 25 (Reuters) – Tea Party activist Larry Gamble has spent the last few months leading an effort to disqualify the signatures of some of the 1 million residents who petitioned to recall Wisconsin’s governor, Republican Scott Walker. The petition protests Walker’s Act 10, which eliminates collective bargaining rights for most public workers, among other anti-union measures.

Gamble helped launch a “Verify the Recall” website that drew in 17,000 volunteer sleuths to scour public records for fraud. He says they uncovered about 100,000 suspicious signatures using scanned, publicly available copies of the petitions. Although the findings were not sufficient to halt a recall election for Walker, it electrified Wisconsin’s grassroots conservatives by uncovering the names of judges, journalists and others who appeared to have signed the recall petition in breach of their own professional codes of ethics.

Gamble finds this level of civic activism where he lives unremarkable.

“Wisconsin has always been different from the other states,” said Gamble, a retiree who heads the Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty, a Tea Party group based in Milwaukee. “We’ll work through all of this in our own, unique way.”

The so-called badger state sees itself as fiercely independent, with a history of both progressivism and free-market conservatism that has always been driven by a politically engaged population. The June 5 vote to determine whether Walker stays in office reflects progressive populist traditions dating back to at least the turn of the last century, Wisconsin activists say.

Throughout much of that time, Wisconsin has been “above party or personal agenda,” where Democrats have acted like Republicans and Republicans like Democrats, explained Lynn Freeman, executive director of United Wisconsin, a group spearheading the recall effort. A prime example of what she called the state’s “blue conservatism” was former Republican governor Tommy Thompson, who pushed for the creation of healthcare for low-income families in Wisconsin. “We called this the ‘Wisconsin idea.’”

The term, long used by progressive Wisconsinites and appropriated by the recall group, dates to the time of Wisconsin’s progressive Republican governor, Robert La Follette, who believed voters, not special interests, should control government institutions. Specialists in law, economics, and the social sciences at the University of Wisconsin were recruited to help enhance the effectiveness of government. That was the “idea.”

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Four police officers were injured and 45 demonstrators arrested after baton-wielding police clashed with anti-war protesters marching on the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday, police said.

A lawyer’s group assisting protesters challenged police figures, saying at least 12 protesters were hurt, some with head wounds from police batons, and more than 60 people detained.

The confrontation began after a 2 1/2 mile march from a Chicago park to near the site of the summit, where leaders of the NATO alliance are discussing the war in Afghanistan.

Chicago Police Chief Garry McCarthy defended police tactics.

“I know that picture (of officers in riot gear pushing and hitting protesters) is going to be what people are going to run away here with,” McCarthy told reporters. “But cops are not here to be assaulted.”

Most of the officers sustained minor injuries, but one was stabbed in the leg, McCarthy said.

While the melee at the end of the rally received the most attention, the situation had calmed down by dark.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Baton-swinging police clashed with anti-war protesters marching on the NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday and a lawyers’ group representing the demonstrators said at least 12 people were injured, some with head wounds from police batons.

More than 60 people were arrested in a melee at the end of a march attended by at least 3,000 people, according to Sarah Gelsomino of the National Lawyers Guild, which represented protesters and attended demonstrations.

Chicago police did not immediately provide figures on the number of arrests or injures. By dusk the streets had calmed down.

The confrontation began after a 2 1/2 mile march from a Chicago park to near the site of the summit, where leaders of the NATO alliance are discussing the war in Afghanistan.

Police ordered the protesters to disperse or risk arrest. Most of the demonstrators did, but several hundred ignored the order and police moved in.

Hundreds of demonstrators, reporters and photographers were hemmed in by lines of blue-helmeted police, pushing them back with plastic shields.

One young man sat at the side of the street, the back of his head streaming blood. His friends said he was hit by riot police.

CHICAGO, May 20 (Reuters) – Protesters marched through the steamy streets of Chicago on Sunday, carrying an anti-war message for world leaders at a NATO summit and led by a group of Iraq War veterans who planned to give back their military medals.

Police estimated the crowd at 2,500 to 3,000 people in what was the largest rally so far in the week leading up to the NATO summit.

Riot police watched closely as the demonstrators – some in festive costumes, others in all black with bandanas over their faces – staged by far the biggest gathering in a week of protests leading up the summit.

Demonstrators had little chance of being seen by the world leaders and 7,500 delegates from some 60 countries at the meeting of the military alliance since the summit site, the McCormick Place convention center, is inside a security zone guarded by tall fences. Protesters were to be kept blocks away from the convention center.

President Barack Obama, who is hosting the summit in his hometown, kicked off the meeting by greeting NATO members one at a time on a stage, and posing for photographs.

The Coalition Against NATO-G8, the group behind Sunday’s parade, has said it hopes as many as 10,000 people would show up to voice their opposition to the war in Afghanistan.

The protesters hoisted flags and signs, including one pink hand-painted sign shaped like a woman’s torso reading “Bust Up NATO.” A woman fanned herself in the midday 90-degree (32 C) heat with a “No War, No Peace” sign. At the front of the march, protesters held a yellow banner reading “No to NATO Warmakers.”

CHICAGO, May 20 (Reuters) – A group affiliated with the hacking activist group Anonymous said it made a “hacktivist” attack on the Chicago Police Department and related websites on Sunday as part of protests against the summit of the NATO military alliance.

The Chicago City Council web site (www.cityofchicago.org) was inoperable on Sunday morning for a period, as was the police department site, which is accessible via the council web portal.

“We are aware of the potential issue with the city’s website and are working with the appropriate federal authorities to address the situation,” city council spokesman Pete Scales said in a statement.

The group AntiS3curityOPS, which said on Twitter that it does not represent Anonymous “as a whole” but was “one small piece to the puzzle,” claimed responsibility for the attack and said there would be others.

“We are actively engaged in actions against the Chicago Police Department and encourage anyone to take up the cause and use the AntiS3curityOPS Anonymous banner,” the group said in a statement on www.cyberwarnews.info. “We are in your harbor Chicago, and you will not forget us.”

An FBI agent with the joint information office set up for the NATO summit said the web attack was under investigation.

“I don’t think we are at a point where we can call this terrorism,” the agent said.

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, a 35-year Senate veteran and leading foreign policy voice, was soundly defeated in the Indiana Republican primary by a Tea Party-backed rival on Tuesday, jolting the American political establishment during a volatile election year.

Lugar, 80, was the first Senate incumbent ousted this year and his defeat showed that the anti-Washington, small government Tea Party movement is alive and well.

The veteran Senator lost to Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock by more than 20 percentage points, according to preliminary results from the state election division.

“Lugar’s defeat is a wake-up call from the Tea Party to the Republican establishment,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist and chairman of CivicForum PAC, which endorsed Mourdock and contributed to his campaign. “It will make them think about how to proceed, not just in what they say but how they vote in the run-up the (November) election.”

In a graceful concession speech, Lugar said he would use the remainder of his term to try to achieve some results in a gridlocked Congress.

“I look forward to what can be achieved in the Senate in the next eight months despite a very difficult national election atmosphere.”

An emotional Mourdock, cheered by hundreds of ecstatic supporters, many decked out in red “Mourdock” T-shirts, called Lugar a “great Hoosier,” the nickname for an Indiana resident, and “a great American.”

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – Senator Richard Lugar, a 35-year Senate veteran and leading foreign policy voice, was soundly defeated in the Indiana Republican primary by a Tea Party-backed rival on Tuesday, jolting the American political establishment during a volatile election year.

Lugar, 80, was the first Senate incumbent ousted this year and his defeat showed that the anti-Washington, small government Tea Party movement is alive and well.

The veteran Senator lost to Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock by more than 20 percentage points, according to preliminary results from the state election division.

“Lugar’s defeat is a wake-up call from the Tea Party to the Republican establishment,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist and chairman of CivicForum PAC, which endorsed Mourdock and contributed to his campaign. “It will make them think about how to proceed, not just in what they say but how they vote in the run-up the (November) election.”

In a graceful concession speech, Lugar said he would use the remainder of his term to try to achieve some results in a gridlocked Congress.

“I look forward to what can be achieved in the Senate in the next eight months despite a very difficult national election atmosphere.”

An emotional Mourdock, cheered by hundreds of ecstatic supporters, many decked out in red “Mourdock” T-shirts, called Lugar a “great Hoosier,” the nickname for an Indiana resident, and “a great American.”

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – Senator Richard Lugar, a 35-year veteran of the Senate and leading foreign policy voice, was defeated in the Indiana Republican primary by a Tea Party-backed challenger on Tuesday, the first Senate incumbent ousted in the 2012 election year.

Lugar conceded defeat to challenger Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who attacked the soft-spoken Senator for votes in support of Democratic President Barack Obama.

“My public service is not concluded,” Lugar told supporters in Indianapolis. “I look forward to what can be achieved in the Senate in the next eight months despite a very difficult national election atmosphere.”

The defeat of Lugar gives a boost to the Tea Party movement, which wants to force deep cuts in U.S. government spending and reduce the size of the federal government.

The outcome also gives Democrats an unexpected opportunity to win a Republican-held seat in November’s elections. Democrats are clinging to a 53-47 advantage in the U.S. Senate but have many more incumbents standing for re-election than Republicans.

When Lugar, 80, last ran for re-election in 2006, he was seen as so invincible that Democrats did not field an opponent.

But the soft-spoken senator, who is the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, saw the atmosphere of Congress change dramatically in recent years to gridlock.

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – Richard Lugar, the six-term senator from Indiana struggling to beat back a Tea Party-backed rival in Tuesday’s Republican primary, made a last minute appeal for votes by saying his challenger will lose to a Democrat in November.

If he is defeated on Tuesday, Lugar would be the first Senate incumbent of either party to lose so far this election year. He is a key voice in the Senate on foreign policy.

In an email to backers sent Sunday with the subject “Your Vote,” Lugar, 80, argues a vote for his challenger, Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, all but guarantees the seat will wind up in Democratic hands on Election Day.

Mourdock enjoys a 10-percentage-point lead over Lugar among likely Republican voters, according to a poll released last week. That was a sharp swing from a poll taken in late March by the same group in which Lugar led, 42 percent to 35 percent.

Lugar, one of the longest-serving U.S. senators, said he understands the frustration of former supporters who have told him they plan to vote for Mourdock, 60, to “protest against what is happening in Washington.”

But Lugar says that while an independent poll suggests he would trounce the Democratic candidate, Congressman Joe Donnelly, in November, that same poll shows Mourdock “would not.”

That poll, taken in March, showed Lugar 21 percentage points ahead of Donnelly in a head-to-head match-up in November but had Mourdock and Donnelly essentially tied.

By Nick Carey

(Reuters) – The last time Republican Senate veteran Richard Lugar stood for election, in 2006, he was so respected that the Democrats did not bother to run against him and he won his Indiana seat with 87 percent of the vote.

But now Lugar, 80, is faltering under a conservative challenge from within his own party in Tuesday’s Indiana Republican primary. That is giving Democrats, struggling to keep control of the U.S. Senate in November’s elections, a glimmer of hope of winning the U.S. Senate seat Lugar has held for 36 years.

Accused of worrying as much about India as Indiana, foreign policy expert Lugar is trailing his Tea Party movement opponent Richard Mourdock in polls in the state, by as much as 10 points in one survey.

Although traditionally Republican, Indiana has become more of a swing state in recent years. If small-government advocate Mourdock wins on Tuesday, Democratic candidate Joe Donnelly is seen as having a better chance of winning in the November general election than if the more moderate Lugar is the Republican candidate.

“It would be a much more competitive race with Mourdock in it,” said Jennifer Duffy who tracks Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

The only poll so far pitting Donnelly, a U.S. congressman, against Mourdock, taken back in March, showed a tie, while six-term incumbent Lugar had a 20-point lead against the Democrat.