But if you read the fluff piece in today’s Politico, one would think so.

Last year, Sen. Dick Lugar was the tea party’s top target — a 35-year veteran who lives in Washington, strays from conservative orthodoxy and even criticized the right-wing movement in the wake of the 2010 elections.

But last week, Lugar was the tea party’s dining companion.

For more than two hours at a restaurant in Carmel, Ind., Lugar sat face to face with the head of one of Indiana’s largest tea party chapters, speaking at length about campaign politics, the senator’s voting record and some of his comments that have irked the movement. Lugar listened patiently and said he’d do more outreach, as he ate his eggs Benedict and peppermint ice cream.

“I was surprised,” said 62-year-old Chuck Ford, president of the Tea Party of Hamilton County. “I don’t usually dine with senators and congressmen.”

At least not in public he doesn’t. The fact is, the Hamilton County TEA Party leader supports  Senator Lugar. Ford recently ousted his vice president, who had expressed a dislike for reelecting Lugar. In an interview with AWB, the ousted VP stated, “Lugar gives Ford tingles up his leg.”

Late last year, when Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate, (HFCS) held their convention to declare support for Richard Mourdock, the Hamilton County TEA Party, (HTP) decided to hold a competing event.  Lugar did not attend the event but his spokesman and campaign coordinator David Wilke attended as Lugar’s representative. While Ford has denied to me his group is supported by the Republican party, the Hamilton County Young  Republicans donated $500 to the event. The Young Republicans generally march in lockstep with the state party. (read:support Lugar)

Ford’s group could not attend the HFCS convention due to their 501c3 status, however, they were invited to attend the rally afterwards, which was represented by the majority of Indiana TEA Parties. The time of the rally would not have impeded on their event, but they chose to not stand in solidarity and were no-shows.

By all impressions, this is not a TEA Party group. It’s merely a bunch of hacks parading to be a TEA Party group to make it appear as if Lugar has some TEA Party support. It should be noted that Mr. Ford at one time was a member of the Indiana State Teacher’s Association, (union), and negotiated union contracts on its behalf.

Back to Wilke for a moment. The 1940 Republican presidential nominee was Wendell Willkie, David’s grandfather.

From the blog, Welcome to my TEA Party.

Willkie was cozy with Democrats.  He joined with Eleanor Roosevelt to form Freedom House and was a delegate to two Democratic national conventions.

A Wilsonian Internationalist who promoted world government, Willkie wrote the book “One World.”  He supported Roosevelt’s controversial New Deal.

Late in his career, Willkie joined the New Liberal Party and attempted to push its agenda nationally.  Senator Lugar was a member of a liberal think tank, the Roosevelt Institute’s Campus Network.  And proving that he’s no statesman, he recently resigned under pressure from the Tea Party.<

So, while Ford states, “I don’t usually dine with senators and congressmen,”  according to another HTP member I spoke with, Mr. Ford has regular breakfast meetings with Lugar’s closest adviser, David Wilke.

Imagine that.

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