Mary
Landrieu has taken quite literally a fighting strategy in her bid for
re-election. Her campaign slogan is, “Mary Landrieu, Fighting and Winning for
Louisiana.” Her camp portrays many of her actions in a manner to appear as if she
is fighting for the people of Louisiana. Her website currently depicts one
banner of her passing around a petition that will bring the Super Bowl back
to Louisiana next year. The possibility of this happening looks dark.
I would not be surprised if the NFL blackouts
any possibility of the Super Bowl appearing in Louisiana again. To further shed
some light on Landrieu’s fighting strategy, the second banner on
her website promotes a recent interview where Landrieu talked about her efforts
to rebuild Louisiana post Hurricane Katrina. Her entire website outlines that
for her past three terms she has been fighting for the people of Louisiana. Her
website details her “Landrieu vs. the federal government” strategy.[1]
Senator
Landrieu took her fight for Louisiana into the Senate’s discussions on the Patient
Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act. The Washington Post wrote an article
about her original stance against the legislation that did a 180 flip when an
earmark was added to the legislation that designated an additional $200 million
federal funds for the Louisiana Medicare Program. Landrieu was able to make
this deal for her state through her late backing of the legislation and senior
power within the chamber. This move although controversial for those outside
the state of Louisiana proved to be a favorable decision among her Louisiana
constituents at, first.[2]
However,
recently the Louisiana Weekly, a New
Orleans based newspaper reported that Landrieu sent out a fiery press
release backing her stance on the health care legislation when she saw her
growing red state of Louisiana beginning to condemn her stance on the issue,
with or without the Louisiana Medicare provision. Her press release explained
that there has been a lot of, “misinformation and political rhetoric
surrounding the issue.” She backed her stance by claiming, “the private
insurance market was broken and unsustainable,” “middle class families were
losing coverage at an alarming rate.” This press release is a last ditch effort
for Landrieu to garner up the support that she has lost after her vote on the
healthcare issue. Her supposed opposition in this next election, Congressman Bill Cassidy
seized this opportunity to exploit her press release and sent it to all his
major backers. Cassidy claims that the healthcare bill will have massive negative
repercussions on small businesses within Louisiana.[3]
The
Twitter feed of Mary Landrieu offered
a venue to respond to Cassidy’s attacks. Her twitter blew-up with tweets about
how she is in favor of small business and working for small businesses within Louisiana.
I think that Senator Landrieu solely made #smallbiz a trending topic with
tweets like, “The more small businesses we get online, the more #jobs we create. #smallbiz.”[4]
It
was interesting that when looking at Senator Landrieu’s travel expenditures
that she has not had any back to her home state. Rather, her trips have been to
California and New York both to do talk shows or public appearances. However,
she has had various heavy weight Democrat political figures appear in Louisiana
on her behalf. Vice-President
Joe Biden is one of the officials to appear at a Landrieu fundraiser. He spoke kindly of her saying that she is “a fighting voice
for Louisiana out in Washington.”[5]
Overall,
Landrieu’s press releases, official webpage, and public messages display the
strategy that Senator Landrieu will be taking in her next election. She is a
fighting voice for Louisiana against the big government out in Washington….that
she has been a part of for almost two decades.
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