But, I don’t think BerniesFriend wants us to just give up. BerniesFriend has a very good point about incumbents being mindlessly reelected here in Louisiana. Sen. Mary L. should have easily lost in the 2008 election when McCain voters here routed Obama with a 60 to 40 percent vote, but way too many of those McCain voters then split their ticket by voting for her instead of Kennedy. Granted, Kennedy was a recent party switcher and therefore a weak RINO candidate, but it still happened…
There really is no place here in our Deep Red conservative state of Louisiana for a F’ing Dem party senator, even if she is an incumbent with lots of name recognition! We have to work harder to bust this stupid incumbent bias.
Cassidy actually does have the distinction of beating an incumbent. In 2008, he beat Don Cazayoux, who won the old LA-06 in a special election over Woody Jenkins.
Landrieu absolutely is vulnerable. Incumbency is valuable, sure. I have to admit that she *could* win another term. However, she has yet to top 52 percent in any of her Senate bids. In 2008, she went up against Dem-turned-GOPer John Kennedy (no relation to JFK). Kennedy wasn’t fully trusted by the GOP base, while Landrieu received some good will following the Katrina aftermath (she won the conservative coastal parishes in the N.O. area this time), and she still only got 52 percent, the same percentage as in 2002 when she faced off against Suzanne Haik Terrell in an ultra-competitive race. It wasn’t that she did better, it was that Kennedy did worse (he got 46 percent as opposed to Terrell’s 48 percent).
A more competent and trusted Republican with the party united behind him (party disunity hurt Terrell) should be able to beat Landrieu. But I’m under no illusions that this will be easy.
Thanks Synthesist..I would love for landrieu to be voted out of office..but having seen her been re-elected with the help of an ignorant gop minority, albeit stupid, coalition, I have little faith she will be voted out..