Senate race becomes most expensive ever waged in Louisiana

By Jeremy Alford
LaPolitics News Service
If you’re already growing weary of seeing all those television ads about Louisiana’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race, then you’ll take little comfort in learning that there’s now more money flowing into the candidates’ campaign accounts than in any other comparable statewide election in recent history.
So far the two lead contenders have deposited more than $21.5 million into their accounts, with more certainly to come.
Incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu, a New Orleans Democrat, has raised $13.5 million this cycle, according to her second quarter finance report filed this week with the Federal Election Commission. That’s nearly $2 million more than she collected during her entire 2008 re-election campaign — and there’s still three and a half months to go until the November primary.
Her lead challenger, Congressman Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, has raised $8 million thus far. That well exceeds the $2.8 million that was raised by Landrieu’s last major challenger, Treasurer John Kennedy, six years ago.
When coupled with all of the outsider spending by third-party groups, John Couvillon, president of JMC Analytics, said this fall’s U.S. Senate race is already the most expensive election Louisiana has ever seen.
“With all of the recent court rulings on unlimited fundraising by super PACs and the possibility that this race could decide the partisan makeup of the Senate, the spigots have been turned wide open,” he said. “The expenditure figures indicate to me that for once a Louisiana statewide race is very prominent on the national level.”
The last major Senate race Louisiana saw was in 2010, when incumbent GOP Sen. David Vitter raised $12.5 million to defend his seat. In that runoff, he bested former Congressman Charlie Melancon, a Democrat who raised $4 million for his challenge.
Adding to the Landrieu-Cassidy tally this cycle is retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness of Mandeville. A Republican newcomer to politics, Maness has managed to transform his fringe candidacy into one the other campaigns are keeping their eyes on, largely due to support from national tea party groups. So far Maness has raised $1.25 million.
Candidates running to the right in 6th District
In the packed 6th Congressional District field, entrepreneur Paul Dietzel of Baton Rouge is expecting an endorsement from the Tea Party Leadership Fund in the coming days. He already has been endorsed by the Tea Party Express and, as the one of the first candidates to announce for the race, appeared to corner the tea party market early.
But now he’s getting stiff GOP competition from Bob Bell, a retired Navy captain and columnist for the Tea Party of Louisiana; Baker businessman and physical therapist Craig McCulloch; and state Rep. Lenar Whitney of Houma. If one of them is unable to get tea party voters in the district to coalesce behind their campaign, the vote will likely be split and thus watered down.
Whitney released a nearly five-minute video recently further explaining why she believes global warming is a “hoax” — the web spot has received national attention, mostly in the form of criticism from left-leaning circles. Her handlers insist she is positioned to be the official tea party candidate in the 6th.
“She’s got the votes and the record on all of the important issues,” said campaign manager Chris Comeaux. “It’s easy to sit there and regurgitate the talking points. She has actually voted her conscious and stood up for her beliefs.”
Bernie Pinsonat of Southern Media and Opinion Research said he’s not surprised to see Whitney attempting to run to the right of the field, while everyone else except former Gov. Edwin Edwards is trying to beat her there.
“If you’re in the middle you’re roadkill,” he said.
It’s difficult to find any campaign literature from state Sen. Dan Claitor and former CPRA chairman Garret Graves that doesn’t promote their conservative values, so neither appears ready to concede that title.
Claitor has been rolling out a series of web videos that stake out his positions on everything from energy and jobs to fiscal management. It’s likewise part of a larger, strategic social media campaign.
Graves, meanwhile, recently attended a fundraiser for his campaign co-hosted by a dozen parish presidents, including those from St. Tammany, Terrebonne, St. Martin, Ascension, St. Mary, Plaquemines, Iberville, Lafourche, St. John the Baptist, St. James, St. Charles and Jefferson.
More musical chairs in New Orleans delegation
In the event that term-limited Sen. Ed Murray, D-New Orleans, qualifies this fall for the open seat in House District 97, as expected, then friends of Rep. Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans, say he’ll mount a bid for Murray’s seat if the senator wins.
“Even if Murray decides against running this fall, Wesley is going to run for Senate District 4 next year as Murray terms out,” said a source close to Bishop. “His entire House district is inside that Senate district.”
The House district was left vacant this year by Jared Brossett, who left the Legislature to take a seat on the New Orleans City Council.
Murray isn’t the only local pol looking at the House race. Sidney Cates V, the son of Civil District Court Judge Sidney Cates IV, is making moves as well. The president of NOLA Building Group, the younger Cates has a seat on the Democratic Parish Executive Committee that includes House District 97.
The primary election for the House seat has been scheduled for Nov. 4, with a Dec. 6 runoff as needed. Qualifying will begin Aug. 20 and end Aug. 22.
They Said It
“These attacks against Mary stick in my throat like a hair in a biscuit.”
—New Orleans political consultant James Carville in a fundraising letter on behalf of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu
For more Louisiana political news, visit www.LaPolitics.com or follow Jeremy Alford on Twitter @LaPoliticsNow.