Aiming for Runoff, Republicans Urge More Candidates to Enter the Louisiana Senate Race

Shifting their strategy in the Louisiana Senate race, Republicans are encouraging more candidates to jump into the race against Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) in hopes of forcing a Dec. 7 runoff.

Sources familiar with the National Republican Senatorial Committee's plans for the race confirm that the committee sees a crowded primary field as Republicans' most viable chance to oust Landrieu. Strategists apparently believe that the more Republicans enter the race, the higher the chances of a runoff.

With a multi-candidate field, strategists argue that fewer Republicans and independents are likely to vote for Landrieu. Public polling has consistently shown Landrieu handily beating Cooksey in a head-to-head matchup, stoking GOP fears that a runoff may not even be necessary if no one else gets into the contest.

Early in the cycle, Republicans worked to clear the way for Rep. John Cooksey (R), but the Congressman appears to have damaged his campaign with negative comments about Arab-Americans after Sept. 11 and with lackluster fundraising.

A spokesman for Landrieu said she is paying little attention to the Republican candidates.

"We have planned, regardless of how many candidates get in this race, to win the first time around," said Landrieu communications director Rich Masters. "If we have to win this in a runoff we'll do that too."

Other Democrats were skeptical about the potential success of Republicans' recruitment efforts.

"It doesn't matter how many 'B'-team candidates, wannabes and losers show up for the Republican side of the ticket," said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Robert Gibbs, arguing that Landrieu was still well-positioned to win the contest.

Under Pelican State election law, if no candidate takes 50 percent on Nov. 5, the two top votegetters, regardless of party, advance to the December runoff.

The GOP's strategy was quickly reflected in the candidacy of state Rep. Tony Perkins (R), who formed a campaign committee Monday to raise money for the race.

Perkins served as the campaign manager for the controversial 1996 Senate campaign of Louis "Woody" Jenkins against Landrieu.

Landrieu beat Jenkins to win the seat in 1996 by just over 5,000 votes in the most contested election of the cycle. Landrieu trailed Jenkins in the Sept. 21 primary, 26 percent to 22 percent.

In an interview, Perkins said he did not discuss his decision to enter the race with Jenkins. Perkins is likely to claim the same conservative mantle Jenkins espoused in 1996, however. He was the prime sponsor, earlier this year, of a bill in the state legislature to reinstitute school prayer.

He has met with Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, though he was not actively recruited by the committee to run. Perkins was blunt about his view on the race.

"Republicans' best shot is to get a multiple field of candidates in this race," he said in an interview Tuesday.

"If we can get Landrieu in a runoff it will be like the Coverdell runoff in 1992," he added, referring to former Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.), adding, "This is our seat."

In the 1992 race, Rep. [sic, Senator, actually] Wyche Fowler (D) won on election day, 49 percent to 48 percent, but in a Nov. 24 runoff, Coverdell triumphed 51 percent to 49 percent. The race drew national attention on both sides as more than $2 million in soft money was spent by the parties.

The same dynamic would likely be present if the Louisiana contest were to make it to a runoff following the November elections, although the race could be subject to new campaign finance laws taking effect Nov. 6.

Perkins maintained that his decision to enter the race had little to do with Cooksey, saying that "this is a race against Mary Landrieu."

He did add, however, that leaders in the business community urged him to run because the Senate race "just wasn't going anywhere."

The other serious Republican candidate contemplating the Senate race is state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell, who has been courted to run by the NRSC.

In mid-March Terrell seemed to decide against the race, saying publicly that she was focused on the state attorney general's race in 2003.

In recent weeks, however, Terrell has reconsidered as evidence by her presence this week in Washington and meeting with Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.). She also met with NRSC officials.

Terrell won her office in 1999 by beating Jenkins, and is the first Republican woman to hold statewide office in Louisiana. She did not return calls for comment.

"I would like to see Suzie Terrell in the race because she would draw votes from Mary in New Orleans," he said.

Both Landrieu and Terrell consider New Orleans their political base. Cooksey and Perkins are from northeastern Louisiana.

Just after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Cooksey stirred up controversy when he said police should question anyone "wearing a diaper on his head," referring to Muslims. President Bush instantly distanced himself from Cooksey's comments and Republicans made it clear they were looking for other candidates.

Cooksey's campaign has flagged since and the most recent financial reports filed with theFederal Election Commission showed Landrieu with a gigantic fundraising lead.

She raised $478,000 from Jan. 1 to March 31 and banked $2.2 million. During that same period Cooksey raised $189,000 with just $127,000 left in the bank.

Cooksey also trails Landrieu badly in publicly released polling. Landrieu led him 62 percent to 25 percent in a poll conducted by Southern Media and Opinion Research May 3-11 of 700 registered voters.

Democrats were adamant that any runoff strategy would backfire against Republicans, arguing that the GOP faces a slippery slope of candidate recruitment.

"Can Bill Frist be far from calling David Duke and asking him to run for Senate?" asked Gibbs.

Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, has run for a number of political offices in the state. He placed third in a 1999 special election to fill the seat of Rep. Bob Livingston(R-La.), missing a spot in the runoff by just three percent of the vote.

"[Democrats] know better," said NRSC executive director Mitch Bainwol in response to the Duke suggestion. "They are being inflammatory and sophomoric," he added. "We welcome their nervousness about Louisiana."

I don't hold out a lot of hope here, but I do give the Pubbies credit for trying something. And who knows?

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

How about Rep. David Vitter? I know he had designs on the governor's mansion, but I like the guy too much to wish our state legislature on him.

You posted a thread on a similar topic last night; thought you might be interested in this one, too.

I credit the GOP for actually trying something here and not just giving up as usual. The thinking here is that Cooksey has ZERO chance against Landreiu in November. However, if a runoff can be forced, and control of the Senate is hanging in the balance during the month leading up to the December runoff, the race is then effectively a National race which might favor a Republican. Landrieu would probably still win, but at least there would be a chance. Nice work pubbies!

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