Election results weren't even in yet Tuesday night when the Kochs announced
big ad buys for the runoff race between Sen. Mary Landrieu and Rep. Bill Cassidy. Now it looks like Landrieu might be
going it alone.
Democrats are scrapping a multimillion dollar ad buy, liberal groups aren’t jumping in to help her campaign and national political staffers haven’t moved down en masse to help get out the vote.
Just days after enduring a shellacking that left Senate Democrats in the minority and licking their wounds, the Louisiana Democrat is calling her own shots in her uphill battle to fend off Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy in a Dec. 6 runoff. […]
In the days after election night, she held events across the state and began accusing her opponent of not doing enough for Louisianans, while challenging him to six debates.
"The country decided about who was going to be in the majority, but a decision still has to be made here in Louisiana about who is going to represent this state in the United States Senate for the next six years," said Landrieu, campaigning in front of a veterans hospital under construction in New Orleans. "I am prepared to run on my record on delivering for this state. I have worked with three presidents, four majority leaders and six governors of different parties and at every time in every Congress regardless of who has had the power or regardless who has been up in the polls or down."
Localizing the remainder of this race is probably her best bet, particularly with national Republicans readying to move in en masse to push Cassidy over the finish line, with a big assist from the Kochs' Americans for Prosperity and the forced birther brigade, Susan B. Anthony’s List. Both AFP and SBA will spend and will have ongoing GOTV efforts. Landrieu can really focus on her relationships with state and local officials provide that contrast with Cassidy. That also allows her to keep those bridges strong for a potential comeback in 2016.
Republican Sen. David Vitter has already announced his run for governor next year. That leaves an open Senate seat in 2016, and a prime opportunity for Landrieu to return. So the Kochs should consider this one a part-time rental for the next two years.