The Stupid Election

We just elected a Senator from Louisiana via a campaign that had nothing whatsoever to do with Louisiana.  I've never seen anything like it.

A few months ago, at an event in New Orleans, I had the opportunity to bend the ear of Senator Landrieu’s former campaign manager and a few of her staffers. “Cassidy is going to make this about Obama,” I said. “You need to make this about Bobby Jindal and Louisiana.” Jindal, depending on the poll, is either slightly less or slightly more popular than Barack Obama. Cassidy, already, had telegraphed his intention to run against Obama; why shouldn’t Senator Landrieu frame her election as a check against Jindal and an opportunity to distinguish her Louisiana record against his. That never happened.

But it’s not stupid Louisiana; to paraphrase Carville, it’s Louisiana, stupid. And that needs to be the battlecry.

Cassidy (well not Cassidy so much as the third party national organizations who bought TV time on his behalf) said nothing about what his ideas for representing Louisiana beyond disliking a President who will be gone in 2 years.  It's basically political malpractice on the Doctor's part.

Meanwhile.. somebody just got voted Most Likely To Succeed.

As she spoke to supporters after her loss over the weekend, Landrieu said cryptically that she will “continue” to serve Louisiana, without offering any details. Since her defeat, she’s been absent from the Senate, missing several votes this week.

In particular, Landrieu’s strong defense of the oil and gas sector — an industry that spends tens of millions of dollars every year on influence-peddling — could provide the Democrat with entree not only to a law firm or consulting shop, but in-house at a company or trade association.

“The most likely person to be successful is Mary,” one head of a law firm’s lobbying practice said of this year’s crop of nearly 50 House members and dozen exiting senators.