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BY ZACH TOOMBS After 36 years as a U.S. Senator, Indiana Republican Dick Lugar faces a significant primary challenge from a Tea Party favorite. Fox News reports the NRA and Citizens United have both thrown their weight behind Indiana treasurer Richard Mourdock — and Tea Party activists are on the ground for him. "Supplementing Mourdock's own get out the vote effort is Hoosier for a conservative Senate, made up of over 50 Indiana Tea Party groups now fanning out around the state." "Meanwhile, the Lugar campaign has been burning up phone lines looking for votes." A poll conducted by Citizens United last week shows Mourdock with a five-point lead over the veteran Lugar. The Washington Post says that poll is "part of what seems to be a steady trend in Mourdock's favor." And a heavy conservative endorsement for Mourdock on Friday could tip the scales. Indiana's WTHR has it. "New this morning, Sarah Palin throwing her conservative clout behind Indiana treasurer Richard Mourdock ..." "The former candidate for vice president and Tea Party icon calls the Mourdock — calls Mourdock, rather, the conservative choice over U.S. Senator Richard Lugar." The 80-year-old Lugar is relying on a few big-name endorsements of his own, relying on well-established GOP figures like Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Sen. John McCain. "I'm not for Dick Lugar because of what he's done but because of what he can do. Our nation faces huge dangers, and it'll take people with his big-picture vision and broad respect to see us past them." NARRATOR: "Sen. John McCain." MCCAIN: "Indiana is fortunate to have a senator like Dick Lugar." The Indianapolis Star notes Friday delivered a double dose of bad news for Lugar. After Mourdock picked up Palin's endorsement, the Star reports: "With Mourdock getting substantial help from outside groups, Lugar needed the same. But late Friday, a Republican Super PAC that has been backing Lugar -- the American Action Network -- said it is calling it quits ... As of Friday, the American Action Network had spent more than $645,153 on ads backing Lugar." Lugar's not the only veteran GOP senator fending off Tea Party candidates in the 2012 cycle. Utah's Orrin Hatch failed to clinch his state's Republican nomination for the Senate last week — meaning he'll face former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist in a June primary. Politico writes it's all part of a bigger trend. "Between Obama's election in November 2008 and January of next year, roughly a third of the Senate will have turned over during the course of his first term. It's becoming a younger institution (by Senate standards, that is), but the next Senate will also most likely be even more polarized than the one that confronted him when he stepped into the Oval Office."