Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) is “very interested” in running for Senate in 2016 if Sen. David Vitter (R) is elected Louisiana governor next year, Roll Call reports.
“Louisiana only wrapped up the 2014 Senate race a few days ago, but soon state operatives may start thinking about another race. Vitter has already announced an exploratory committee to run for governor in 2015. If Vitter wins, Fleming said, he wants to succeed him in the Senate.”
Bill Cassidy (R) soundly defeated Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) in the U.S. Senate runoff in Louisiana, 54% to 42%, the New Orleans Times Picayune reports.
“Cassidy rode a wave of Republican support that swept the nation during the midterm elections. Voters in Louisiana were angry with President Obama and his policies, particularly the Affordable Care Act. Cassidy used Landrieu’s vote for the law against her to motive people to oust her from office.”
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) slipped and told a radio host that she did not vote for President Obama, The Hill reports.
Said Landrieu: “I voted for the Affordable Care Act, I did not vote for Obama.”
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Harry Enten: “William Thompson of Kansas and Wesley Jones of Washington are former U.S. senators — you get a pass for not recognizing them, they’ve been dead for more than 80 years. But if you’ll be watching Saturday’s Senate runoff between Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, remember their names. These senators sustained the greatest margin of defeat for an elected incumbent (not running on a third-party ticket after a primary defeat) since the direct election of senators began in the early 1900s. Thompson lost by 30 percentage points in 1918, and Jones by 28 points in 1932.”
“Landrieu probably won’t overtake Thompson and Jones, but she could be headed toward a top 10 historic defeat. The FiveThirtyEight model projects her losing the runoff 99.8 percent of the time, and by a 57.8 percent to 42.2 percent margin.”
Jeff Zeleny: “The Republican midterm election march has one more act, with the Louisiana Senate runoff on Saturday. To say that Democrats have thrown in the towel would be an understatement. The Iraqi Army fled Mosul slower than Democrats abandoned Mary Landrieu in the wake of the November thumping in Senate races across the country. If Bill Cassidy wins this weekend, Republicans will hold a 54-seat majority in the Senate, which is more muscular than Mitch McConnell had dreamed only months ago. It’s not the 60 votes needed to fully run the table, but there are six moderate and independents to help reach that threshold on some popular red-state issues.”
Meanwhile, David Wasserman attempts to quantify the most and least impressive campaigns of 2014.
“Here’s how lopsided Louisiana’s Senate runoff is: Bill Cassidy is so far ahead that he’s not in the state campaigning. Two days before the election,” Politico reports.
“While Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu hustles across the Bayou State ahead of Saturday’s runoff, the Republican congressman is in Washington this week, voting on legislation and debating how to keep the government from shutting down. His press operation appears to be nonexistent.”
Roll Call: 3 things to know about the Louisiana Senate runoff
Beleaguered Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) warned Louisiana voters that her defeat would elevate an advocate of “windmills” to a powerful position on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
Said Landrieu: “If I don’t get back there as a senior member of the committee, we’re gonna have a woman who I like very much (but) I’m not sure Louisiana is going to think very much of a senator from Washington state who’s all for windmills and alternative energy, and doesn’t support the oil and gas industry.”
“She was speaking about Democratic colleague Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who just then was sending out an email appeal to raise money for Landrieu.”
A new WPA Opinion Research poll in Louisiana finds Bill Cassidy (R) leads Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) by 24 points in their U.S. Senate runoff, 57% to 33%.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) “lobbed a barb at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Tuesday, saying they effectively abandoned her after the Nov. 4 midterm election,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Landrieu: “I am extremely disappointed in the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. I’ve said that. You know, they just walked away from this race.”
“Short of treason by Cassidy in the next 72 hours, I just don’t see it. The issue is she voted with Barack Obama. Whether you like it or not it’s the big issue that’s killing her.”
— Pollster Bernie Pinsonat, quoted by the Daily Beast, on Sen. Mary Landrieu’s chances to win Louisina’s U.S. Senate runoff on Saturday.
Another new ad from Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) says that challenger Bill Cassidy (R) “has endorsed a documentary which claims slavery was better for black folks than welfare,” according to BuzzFeed.
The ad goes on: “But worse than that, Cassidy and Jindal are trying to impeach our President.”
A new radio ad for Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) features Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) saying Republicans will impeach President Obama if Bill Cassidy (R) wins the U.S. Senate runoff on Saturday, BuzzFeed reports.
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Landrieu, of course, says she “approves this message.” [/speech_bubble]
Bloomberg: “Landrieu is struggling through the final days of the runoff election, set for Dec. 6. Early balloting trends suggest a spike in interest among white voters and Republicans, while blacks—who nearly universally support the incumbent—are proportionally making up a smaller part of the vote. The first four days of voting in Louisiana show that whites made up about 72 percent of the early electorate. That’s above the 65 percent of whites who voted early before the Nov. 4 election.”
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) “is running out of ways to win her runoff in Louisiana next month,” National Journal reports.
“At this point, her party isn’t swooping in to save the day: National Democrats have pulled the plug on her race. With roughly $10 million in debt from the 2014 election cycle and a pile of losses from Arkansas to Colorado, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee canceled roughly $2 million in television advertising spots it had reserved when Landrieu’s runoff race was still seen as competitive or possibly the deciding race for control of the Senate.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Landrieu is the last Democratic senator in the Deep South. It may be quite a while before there’s another one.[/speech_bubble]
A new Rassmussen survey in Louisiana finds Bill Cassidy (R) leads Sen. Mary Landriue (D) by 15 points in their U.S. Senate runoff, 56% to 41%.
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]It’s increasingly hard to see how the passage of the Keystone XL pipeline bill was ever going to save Landrieu.[/speech_bubble]
A new Vox Populi Polling survey in Louisiana finds Bill Cassidy (R) way ahead of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) in their U.S. Senate runoff, 53% to 42%.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) “is presenting herself as a leading voice for Louisiana on energy issues in the U.S. Capitol, showcasing her inside influence by forcing a Senate vote on a bill that would allow construction of the Keystone pipeline, a project backed by industries and voters in her state,” Bloomberg reports.
“Yet her outspokenness and perseverance in legislative forums is relatively new, emerging in the 10 months since she took over the chairmanship of the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee and as she faces an uphill battle in a Dec. 6 runoff against Republican Representative Bill Cassidy. Between January 2009 and this week, Landrieu didn’t speak or submit written testimony or questions at almost 70% of the energy committee hearings, according to an analysis of congressional records, videos and transcripts. Her attendance at 137 of the 200 hearings of the full panel or her subcommittees during that six-year period cannot be confirmed through public records.”
A new Gravis Marketing poll in Louisiana finds Bill Cassidy (R) leading Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) by 21 points in their U.S. Senate runoff, 59% to 38%.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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