U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, who ostensibly supported but never lifted a finger for John McCain in the presidential election and who also showed up in Barack Obama’s early campaign ads, says he will not be working in the Obama administration.

“President-elect Obama has not asked me to serve in any role, but he did call me,” Lugar said, noting that he and Obama know each other very well from their work together on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It was just simply to talk about foreign policy. He hoped that our association, our friendship, would remain very, very close, which I affirmed that it would.”

There are plenty of Indiana Republicans who’d have been happy to see Lugar go to the White House, so mad are they that he did nothing for McCain prior to the election. Politically speaking, there’s not much they can do about it, given that he’s one of the most — if not the most — popular elected official in the state.

Barack Obama has picked Delaware Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate. 

Here’s U.S. senator Dick lugar’s reaction, “I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Senator Joe Biden, to be his vice-presidential running mate. I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy.

“I share the disappointment of many Hoosiers that my partner in the Senate, Evan Bayh, was not selected on this occasion, but I believe he will continue to have widespread support for higher office during many years ahead.”

Lugar made his statement while en route to Tbilisi, Georgia.

I’m off to cover the event.  It will be a long, fun day, for a politcal junkie like me.