It would appear that since it has now become official that the Democrats have lost their highly coveted majority in the Senate there seems to be little interest in whether or not Mary Landrieu is victorious in her bid for re-election. But then isn’t this how Democrats usually operate? If you’re no good to the party then you’re simply cut loose. So word now comes that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has, or soon will, cancel all of its advertising reservations for Landrieu ahead of the December runoff there in Louisiana.
The committee decided to cancel all broadcast buys planned to run from Monday through Dec. 6 in all five of the state’s major media markets. That was equal to about $1.6 million worth of time. The DSCC is also now in the process of canceling an additional $275,000 in cable placements, that according to buyer sources. Meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee ((NRSC) has, by contrast, reserved a total $2.3 million of broadcast ad time over the course of the next month.
DSCC spokesmoron, Justin Barasky, said, "Mary Landrieu is a proven runoff winner, and we support her 100 percent." But, I guess, just not enough to pay for any ads. Barasky went on to say, "We are going to make ongoing determinations on how best to invest in the race. We made the initial reservation when there were concerns that the rates would skyrocket, but they have stabilized, giving us more flexibility to make week-to-week decisions." Just a polite way to say that old Mary is going to be left to fend for herself.
In Tuesday’s election Landrieu finished with 42 percent, or just 16,000 more votes and 1 percentage point ahead of her Republican opponent Bill Cassidy. Her showing came despite the that we had a Tea Party candidate, Rob Maness, in the race who received 14 percent. This provided even more proof, as if we needed any, that voting for these third party candidates creates more problems than it solves. Because in going over the number we find that had this guy not been in the race, Cassidy would have won easily instead of heading to a run off.
Republicans still have $7.2 million in broadcast reservations for the next four weeks in the Bayou State. Cassidy has reserved $1.3 million; Ending Spending and its Super PAC, $1.6 million; the National Rifle Association, $1.1 million; and Freedom Partners, $822,000. The only outside Democrat group with broadcast reservations for the runoff right now is the Humane Society Legislative Fund, which reserved just $101,000 for the final two weeks of the runoff. So Mary may be at a bit of a disadvantage here.
And in the meantime Cassidy is behaving much like a front-runner. On Tuesday night, Landrieu challenged him to six debates. But on Thursday he countered by saying he would agree to only one, on the Monday before the Saturday runoff. And then in an effort to get Barry’s name in stories about his refusal to debate more, Cassidy added his own challenge. In a press release he challenged, "For every time Senator Landrieu barnstorms the state with Barack Obama, I will participate in another debate."
In a two-way race, with lower turnout and the GOP base consolidating behind Cassidy, Landrieu starts as the decided underdog. And also Landrieu now lost what has been a centerpiece of her reelection bid, because even if she is able to pull of a win in the runoff, when the GOP takes control of the Senate in January she’ll no longer be chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. All that she‘ll be just one more member of the minority party. Not much glamour there.
But on the other hand, it does become a bit more difficult for the Republicans to nationalize this race because the fate of ‘Dingy Harry’ Reid as majority leader has been settle with him being replaced come January by, presumably, Mitch McConnell. Landrieu needs to disqualify Cassidy in the eyes of voters who don’t want to vote for her and she has already begun slinging the mud. On Wednesday, she accused him of opposing veterans and storm relief after Hurricane Isaac and she has attacked him for opposing equal pay legislation and voting to cut Pell Grants.
Landrieu spokesmoron, Fabien Levy, said, "While the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee recalibrates, our campaign for Louisiana’s future still has a lot of juice, a lot of heart, and, most importantly, a strong and positive record to run on." He added, "Our campaign has never been about money or the party, but fighting for the people of Louisiana and delivering for them time and time again, despite the gridlock in Washington. We have the passion and energy necessary for victory on December 6, and are confident we will have the necessary resources from Louisiana voters to win."
Look, as far as I’m concerned, this race is still important, if for no other reason than to use it as an opportunity to send this supporter-of-Obama-97-percent-of-the-time loser back to wherever it is that she came from. The people of Louisiana deserve far better than this race-baiting bitch! Remember now that it was in her desire to win the election outright, this past Tuesday, she essentially accused every white person in the state she wishes to represent of being a racist. As far as I’m concerned, that disqualifies her from holding public office.
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