Free Republic

When your main campaign sales pitch is based on your “clout,” and you lose the basis of that clout, then your campaign is probably a goner. For that and other reasons, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu has almost no remaining path to re-election. Landrieu’s self-proclaimed clout as chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Energy always was rather illusory. Now, with Republicans running the Senate and a Democratic president wholly antagonistic to Louisiana economic interests, Democratic loyalist Landrieu will be doubly blocked from influence on behalf of the state. Landrieu will keep trying to “localize” the election by ginning up irrelevant issues...

This week, the DSCC announced that it would pull the ad time in Louisiana that the organization had reserved for the Senate runoff, leaving incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu to her own devices against Republican challenger Bill Cassidy. After coming under withering criticism from fellow Democrats, the DSCC has reversed course … a little. The ad time is still canceled, but DSCC chair Sen. Michael Bennet announced late yesterday that the committee would organize a “money bomb” event for Landrieu’s campaign: After getting criticism by Democrats for cancelling advertising reservations for the Dec. 6 Louisiana Senate runoff, the Democratic Senatorial...

Retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness is joining forces with Rep. Bill Cassidy in an effort to seal a win for Republicans over Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. Maness will formally endorse Cassidy during a star-studded Republican rally in Baton Rouge on Monday that will feature presumed presidential candidates Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Gov. Bobby Jindal. U.S. Sen. David Vitter, state Sen. Elbert Guillory, state Rep. Paul Hollis, 6th Congressional District candidate Garret Graves, former U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry, and LAGOP chairman Roger Villere will also attend the "Unity Rally." Maness finished third behind Landrieu and Cassidy in Tuesday's primary. He...

Fighting for her political life and effectively abandoned by the Democratic Party, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu went on the attack against Rep. Bill Cassidy, the Republican congressman challenging her in next month’s runoff. At a Thursday press conference in front of a Veterans Affairs medical facility, Landrieu tried to contrast her efforts to secure federal money for her state after Hurricane Katrina hit the state in September 2005 with Cassidy’s supposed failure to lift a finger.

As Twitchy reported yesterday, Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, facing a runoff election Dec. 6, has resumed campaigning on Twitter, although her #WhereWasBill tweet racked up only one favorite and zero retweets in its first four hours online. (Nearly 24 hours later, it’s up to three retweets and two favorites.) Landrieu’s resurrected Twitter campaign has finally caught someone’s attention, although that person is her opponent, Rep. Bill Cassidy, who was happy to answer where he was during Hurricane Katrina. Check out the favorites and retweets on this one. Bill Cassidy        ✔ @BillCassidy Mary Landrieu wants to know where I was during Hurricane Katrina? Setting...

Candy and I enjoyed a double date with Bill and Laura Cassidy tonight at Ye Olde College Inn in New Orleans. Thanks to the Blancher family for hosting us and to Jimmy and the staff for a great New Orleans meal! Congressman Cassidy and I had a positive discussion concerning our shared love for our country and for Louisiana. We also spoke about important points of public policy including the ongoing situation in Bayou Corne, the REDEEM Act, and Sen. Lee's Conservative Reform Agenda... I even encouraged Bill to take a look at our Contract with Louisiana and to hop...

Clearly, the GOP is strongly supporting Bill Cassidy for the December 6th Runoff. One thing that would be a good thing for the future would be to put Mia Love, Tim Scott, or Will Hurd on the Campaign Trail with Bill Cassidy. Most of the dependable Democratic supporting the Democratic party are black. Why not put Mia Love, Tim Scott and Will Hurd in the news to show how the GOP has added three to its numbers. In my opinion, this would be: win-win for the GOP, Bill Cassidy, but also for Mia Love, Tim Scott, and Will Hurd.

In the fight of her political life, Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu took the gloves off on day 1 of the runoff election between her and Republican candidate Bill Cassidy. Fewer than 24 hours later, the attack Landrieu launched went horribly wrong. The day after neither candidate reached the 50 percent plus 1 vote threshold, Sen. Landrieu held a press conference where she slammed her opponent as absent during the devastation from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Standing in front of a VA Medical Center construction site, Landrieu called Cassidy “wishy-washy, unreliable, undependable, not sure who he is, not sure who...

On Tuesday night, Republicans won big: They picked up governorships in blue states like Maryland, Massachusetts, and Illinois, and they held House seats in competitive districts with embarrassing incumbents like Michael Grimm of New York, who physically threatened a reporter and is under indictment for tax evasion. But their biggest win by far was taking control of the U.S. Senate. As of this writing, Republicans had already secured 52 Senate seats, thanks to knocking off Democratic incumbents or replacing retiring Democrats in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Another GOP pick up is probable in...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats' campaign committee on Thursday began canceling plans for television ads in Louisiana's major markets to help Sen. Mary Landrieu's runoff campaign...

Senate Democrats' campaign committee on Thursday began canceling plans for television ads in Louisiana's major markets to help Sen. Mary Landrieu's runoff campaign against Republican Bill Cassidy, making her re-election bid an even steeper challenge. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee initially had reserved $1.8 million in television advertising for after Tuesday's first round of voting. On Thursday, the DSCC dumped the bookings in the state's big cities. A spokesman for the debt-laden committee said officials still back Landrieu, who has twice before prevailed during runoff elections, and would keep an eye on the race. "Mary Landrieu is a proven runoff...

After Republicans easily clinched a Senate majority on Tuesday night, we knew the run-off election in Louisiana wouldn't go well for Democrat Mary Landrieu against her Republican opponent Bill Cassidy and now, it just got a lot worse. POLITICO is reporting the DSCC has pulled funding for television advertising in the state. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is canceling at least some of its advertising reservations for Sen. Mary Landrieu ahead of the December runoff in Louisiana. The committee canceled buys planned from Monday through December 6 in the Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans markets, three sources tracking the...

And then there were 54.Bomb the rubble: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is canceling at least some of its advertising reservations for Sen. Mary Landrieu ahead of the December runoff in Louisiana.The committee canceled buys planned from Monday through December 6 in the Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans markets, three sources tracking the air war told POLITICO…“Mary Landrieu is a proven run-off winner and we support her 100 percent,” said DSCC spokesman Justin Barasky. “We are going to make ongoing determinations on how best to invest in the race. We made the initial reservation when there were concerns...

National Democrats are canceling a portion of their planned advertising buy in Louisiana for Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) runoff battle with Rep. Bill Cassidy (R ). A Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee aide confirmed the committee canceled buys starting Monday and running through Dec. 6, the date of the runoff, in the Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans markets. It's unclear how much of the committee's initial $2 million-plus reservation remains. The move underscores, and likely exacerbates, her underdog status in the race. But with Senate control no longer up for grabs, after Republicans gained a 52-seat majority in Tuesday night’s...

Around 9:00 last night, the TV pundits realized that it would no longer do to say that it was an anti-incumbent year: The vast majority of the incumbents losing — all of them in the Senate — were Democrats. Nor could the election be chalked up to red-state reaction. Republicans took Senate seats in Iowa and Colorado, which voted for Obama twice apiece, and governorships in Maryland and Illinois, which last voted Republican in 1988. The wave gave Republicans a larger Senate majority than all but the most confident among them had expected, and added to the ranks of their...

One of the constitutional amendments up for a vote in 2014 was Amendment 3 in Alabama.  The amendment was intended to strengthen the already strong protection of the right to keep and bear arms in the Alabama Constitution.   The wording to be replaced seems clear: Text of Section 26:Right to Bear Arms “ That every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state.[1][2] But courts in some states have claimed that the right to bear arms in defense of self was, in fact quite limited, either to location, such as only in the...

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu heads into a Dec. 6 runoff as a clear underdog, struggling for another six-year term against a wave of conservatism and Republicans looking to pad their new Senate majority. Fifty-eight percent of voters chose another candidate on Tuesday over the 18-year incumbent. She has the distinction of being the last Democratic statewide elected official in a state where President Barack Obama remains highly unpopular. And her main campaign theme of clout was undercut when her party was forced into minority status: Even if she’s re-elected, Landrieu will lose her vaunted chairmanship of the Senate’s energy committee...

NEW ORLEANS, LA (WDSU) -- Democrat incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican opponent Bill Cassidy are headed to a runoff election in the race for the Senate seat. Landrieu is campaigning on her seniority and record as a job creator and a lawmaker who will put Louisiana first over politics. She remained optimistic despite a letdown on election night. She said running one-on-one against Cassidy is the race she "always wanted" and challenged him to six debates before the Dec. 6 runoff. Landrieu and her supporters unveiled a new slogan going into the runoff, "Where was Bill?" -- a clear...

Why is Rob Maness still talking about the Nov. run-off? Didn't he come in third???

The Louisiana Senate race is heading into a December run-off as no candidate was able to secure 50 percent of the vote. Based on preliminary exit polls, ABC News projected Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., will face-off against Rep Bill Cassidy, R-La., in the run-off. Campaign committees and outside groups have already reserved airtime ahead of an expected run-off. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has set aside $3.3 million to run ads in the month ahead of the December run-off. The Koch-backed group FreedoM Partners has also reserved $2.1 million in television advertisement time ahead of an anticipated run-off in the...