Posted on 10/23/2004 8:33:41 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Candidates decry outsider tentacles in senate race
By MARSHA SHULER mshuler@theadvocate.com Capitol news bureau
Two of the top contenders in the U.S. Senate race spent Friday arguing about which one of them was having strings pulled by national interests.
Democrat U.S. Rep. Chris John continued to paint Republican U.S. Rep. David Vitter as the puppet of Republican leadership to the detriment of the state's interests.
Meanwhile, Vitter said John is the puppet, not he. He noted that John's campaign is financed largely by out-of-state interests.
The puppet spat came a day after John and Vitter took off the gloves during a U.S. Senate debate and as allegations flew in multimillion-dollar television campaigns financed by the candidates and their out-of-state supporters.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee weighed into the television ad fray, hitting John's congressional record as a similar Democratic group has done for weeks against Vitter.
"I'm delighted. It's working for me," said Democratic state Treasurer John Kennedy, who has been running second or third in recent polls.
"I'm running my race. I'm not running against anybody. Clearly David and Chris -- there's tension there," said Kennedy who spent the day at his Baton Rouge campaign headquarters.
John, Vitter and Kennedy are among a seven-man field in the Nov. 2 election for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. John Breaux.
John, Vitter and candidate state Rep. Arthur Morrell had been scheduled to appear Friday morning at a Dow Chemical-sponsored forum in Plaquemine.
Only John showed up.
At the Dow session, John said not enough is being done at the federal level to increase the nation's energy independence. He said current policies have led to today's high gasoline prices, escalating natural-gas costs and lost jobs in the petro-chemical industries.
John called it "unthinkable" for the Bush administration to keep a moratorium on drilling for oil and gas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which is sought by Florida officials.
"It's a political reason. Florida is important in the presidential race," John said.
Lifting the moratorium would be one way to provide industry relief within a year -- not in 10 to 15 years, he said.
During a televised debate the night before, John and Vitter called each other names.
Vitter, who didn't attend Dow's forum, nevertheless continued his attack on John. He latched onto a new Center for Responsive Politics report that ranked John ninth among 435 congressmen for out-of-state campaign contributions, with $742,556 in hand.
"A lot of people say the first rule of politics is to follow the money. In Chris John's case it leads to out- of-state special interests -- over $100,000 from the pharmaceutical industry, over $43,000 in this campaign alone from gambling interests," Vitter said.
Vitter said the pharmaceutical industry's influence on John has already been demonstrated as John voted against re-importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and other countries.
Vitter said the same report ranks him fifth among congressmen for in-state contributors.
"Political contributions do not guarantee anything at all," John said. "It's just support of a candidate."
Meanwhile, the Senate television ad campaign picked up a more-negative tone.
A national Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee commercial accused John of voting to allow recent immigrants access to Food Stamps, against lowering taxes that some seniors pay on Social Security benefits, and voting "again and again to weaken anti-terrorism laws."
John said he did not know what votes the Republicans are using.
John said he voted for the creation and full funding of the Office of Homeland Security. He said Vitter voted against creation of the 9-11 Commission, which made recommendations on improving the nation's security.
John also said Vitter voted against the commission's recommendations. Instead, John said, Vitter voted for the Republican version, which was not as expansive.
Bush will come in and campaign for Vitter. Who's John going to drag in? The defeated John Kerry?
The point that Corzine was making is that LA Democrats don't need outsiders coming in for them in the December "general election runoffs." The state is some 65-66 percent registered Democrat. Mary Landrieu and Kathleeen Blanco did not bring int too many out-of-staters at all, relying mostly on John Breaux. Suzanne Terrell and Bobby Jindal did import GOP help. but to no avail.
A lot of hunting men in LA do not vote in those December runoffs because election day falls on a Saturday and they are not used to casting absentee ballots.
Why can't you vote absentee at any story where you can get a hunting license?
Yes, one can vote absentee at the parish courthouse (I don't know if there are additional sites.) or by mail in LA, but many hunters forget to do so and therefore do not vote in the December "general elections runoffs." That helps the New Orleans metro area, with far fewer hunters, to dominate those elections.
"Who's John going to drag in?"
Chris John is totally desperate. Vitter is on the verge of winning outright. John stepped in it when he voted for the UN observers to come in - even though he goes on the radio and flat out denies it. (Liar, liar, pants on fire!)
The hardest three percent for a Republican to gain in LA is to go from 47.5 percent to 50.5 percent. It happens so rarely.
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