The Nation points out that Cassidy is planning on making abortion a top issue and that AFP are targeting their ads towards women, like this:In this heavily Catholic state, women’s health could prove a more meaningful point of divergence between the candidates. Cassidy is deeply conservative when it comes to abortion; he opposes it even in cases of rape and incest. On Sunday, members of his staff attended an annual breakfast in Baton Rouge sponsored by Right to Life, the group responsible for the anti-Landrieu billboard in Lafayette as well as several others in Shreveport and on the interstate that runs through Southern Louisiana. The Susan B. Anthony List plans to spend more than $1 million against Landrieu on a ground campaign and its own ads, which describe Landrieu’s vote for the Affordable Care Act as a vote for “taxpayer-funded abortion.”Access to abortion has become increasingly restricted in Louisiana, as it has in other midterm battlegrounds like North Carolina. In early June, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal stood in front of a Baptist church in the city of Monroe and signed a bill that could shutter most of the state’s abortion clinics, in an echo of provisions passed in Texas, Mississippi and Alabama in recent years. The law, which requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, emerged in a legislative session that failed to advance several measures intended to support women’s health and economic security, including the Medicaid expansion, a minimum-wage increase and an equal pay act.
Democrats in other swing states are highlighting these kinds of attacks on women as an illustration of the GOP’s extremism, but so far Landrieu has not made gender an issue in her campaign. In North Carolina, Kay Hagan is targeting female voters in her race against Tom Tillis, the speaker of the North Carolina House whose accomplishments include the infamous “motorcycle abortion bill.” Colorado senator Mark Udall has a new ad out highlighting his opponent’s anti-choice record. In Kentucky, Alison Lundergan Grimes hammered Mitch McConnell for being “on the wrong side of every woman’s issue out there.” In turn, the Democrats’ bid to keep the Senate is getting a boost from liberal women’s groups like Planned Parenthood Action Fund and EMILY’s LIST, who are putting millions behind female candidates, Hagan in particular.
The political landscape is very different for Landrieu. “In other circumstances, she could make inroads with conservative women who care about women’s issues. But if she can be construed as part of establishment that is pro-choice, that trumps everything,” said Pearson Cross, a political scientist at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette.
Cross credits Louisiana’s sharp rightward turn in the last decade not only to anti-Obama sentiment but also to the GOP’s leveraging of religion to flip voters in the heavily Catholic south- and central-western parishes known as French Acadiana, formerly a blue stronghold.
“The Republican Party picked that lock by appealing to voters on the basis of abortion,” said Cross. “Catholics [in Louisiana] are now voting in majorities for Republicans, which is something they had never done before.” That switch was evident in the 2008 presidential election, in which 70 percent of Louisiana Catholics voted for John McCain. - The Nation, 6/23/14
We shall have to see how this plays out. But one thing Cassidy is trying to avoid is hit Landrieu over the ACA:
And if Louisiana voters need a reason to vote for Landrieu, this is a pretty good reason:I've argued for months that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will play only a minor role in the 2014 U.S. Senate race between Sen. Mary Landrieu and her main Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy.
Landrieu will probably never campaign on the wisdom of her vote for the legislation. But have you noticed that Cassidy hasn't launched any major attacks on her for supporting it? (He has recently aired an anti-Obamacare spot, but it strangely never mentions Landrieu's name.) If Landrieu's vote were as fatal to her reelection as many Republicans once believed, wouldn't you expect Cassidy to pound her relentlessly about it?
Republicans aren't savaging Landrieu about the ACA because they know such attacks won't work. The ACA might not be overwhelmingly popular in Louisiana (and other places), but it's becoming more widely accepted and successful. For example, in Louisiana, a clear majority opposes its repeal, preferring, instead, to fix it. That's why, in his spot, Cassidy's carefully says he wants to "replace" the law (with what is not clear).
Even Gov. Bobby Jindal, a few months ago, advised the GOP to not run the 2014 election solely on repealing Obamacare.
Most telling, however, was what occurred last Monday during Sen. David Vitter's appearance before the Baton Rouge Press Club. Vitter is running for governor next year, but his former communications director is running Cassidy's campaign. Vitter is close to Cassidy and has every reason to want Landrieu defeated.
Therefore, when reporters asked Vitter about the ACA's Medicaid expansion provision (which Jindal refuses to accept), he could have easily attacked Landrieu on Cassidy's behalf. He didn't. Instead, Vitter said he might be open, under certain circumstances, to accepting the federal funds to expand Medicaid. - The Times-Picayune, 6/21/14
http://www.noladefender.com/...
Cassidy and the Kochs will do anything to take this seat so we have to be ready for November. Click here to donate and get involved with Landrieu's campaign:As part of the continuing flood insurance fight, Mary Landrieu's office said Tuesday that the state's senior U.S. Senator followed through on a promise to keep funding in place that would fix inaccurate flood insurance maps. As part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's annual budget, FEMA will receive a total of $221 million for the flood map project.FEMA-drawn flood maps determine a home's risk, with a home that sits in a higher risk zone likely to have higher premiums. Along with arguing against the changes to the National Flood Insurance Program that were brought by the Biggert-Waters Act (and later reversed in part), state and parish officials in coastal areas of South Louisiana have also argued that inaccurate maps are forcing some residents and businesses to overpay for flood insurance. FEMA has tacitly acknowledged the problem, launching a pilot program that will enable better mapping in St. Tammany, Plaquemines and three other parishes.
Using her influence as chair of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, Landrieu secured $100 million to update the maps in the 2015 Homeland Security budget. As part of that funding, she overturned a proposed $11 million cut to the mapping program that was in the President's initial draft budget. Another $5 million was also added for mapping. FEMA already receives $121 million in fees for mapping, bringing the total appropriation to $221 million.
After an event with FEMA Associate Administrator David Miller last month, Landrieu said the mapping program would be fully funded. - NOLA Defender, 6/24/14
