Will Foster "Endorse" in LA Senate Race

The Shreveport (LA) Times ^ | 11-14-02 | Hill, John

[Theodore R.]

Foster plays hardball with White House John Hill / Louisiana Gannett News Posted on November 14, 2002 BATON ROUGE - Gov. Mike Foster said Wednesday that he would not endorse any candidate in the U.S. Senate campaign runoff.

But he will support a candidate - Foster just is not ready to say which one yet as he is trying to save the state's educational accountability program.

"I don't like to say 'endorse.' I think that is an overused word. Besides, when I use it, people usually lose," Foster said, alluding to the fact that one of the few times he ever won after using the word was the tax reform constitutional amendment known as the Stelly plan.

Whatever the governor calls it, Foster's support of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Suzanne Haik Terrell is something Washington Republicans and the White House want very badly. It could be a major help in giving President George W. Bush another vote in the upper chamber.

In return, Foster wants President Bush's administration to approve the Louisiana Education Accountability Program and grant waivers to key areas that conflict with Bush's "No Child Left Behind" federal education accountability program.

Without a federal waiver, Louisiana's program would have to undergo a major overhaul.

Foster met privately with Terrell on Tuesday to talk over their past differences, the first time in over a year the two have talked one-on-one.

The governor, who spent a half-hour talking with incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu on the morning after the Nov. 5 primary, has said he also will meet privately with Landrieu.

In the meantime, Terrell's pollster was in Washington on Wednesday.

Verne Kennedy briefed national Republicans and White House political officers about the Louisiana campaign and how Foster could help, including in Acadiana, a key area in the runoff because it is heavily Republican and consists of French Cajun voters critical to Landrieu.

Also in Washington on Wednesday, Louisiana education accountability experts were meeting with federal counterparts at the U.S. Department of Education going over Louisiana's plan, its track record and the state's reasons for wanting federal waivers rather than revamping the successful program.

"I don't have any commitments," Foster said. "The only thing they agreed to do was meet with our folks. That's all I have been able to do," he said.

Foster said he knows Washington "is all about party" and indicated that he is aware that another Republican vote in the Senate would be helpful to Bush's White House.

"In the long haul, I intend to do what I can do to help the president get a Congress that he can use to get things done," Foster said in a statement that seems to point to his eventual support of Terrell.

But Foster denied as premature a published report that a Terrell endorsement was a done deal.

[Theodore R.]

Imagine having to deal with an egotist like Foster! This must be Karl Rove's job.

[San Jacinto]

The article never says whether Foster is a Republican or a Democrat.

[NY Cajun]

Foster is a RINO. A fence sitting Republican In Name Only. You should hear him on the radio when a dissenter calls up and challenges him on issues. His temper is worse than Clinton's. He only changed his party affiliation to get elected. What do they say about an animal changing it's spots?

[gaspar]

Foster is the sort of snake that no decent party would touch. He's poison.