Maness Needs to Pull Out of Senate Race

I've been working on a post for DaTechGuy on Mary Landrieu and "Flight-Gate"; be sure to click over there Monday afternoon and check it out.  She's having a pretty bad week.

In the course of doing some research for that post, I've been looking at the poll numbers for the November U.S. Senate race.  No offense to Col. Maness or his supporters, but he needs to follow the lead of Rep. Paul Hollis and get out of this race.  I know that Sarah Palin has endorsed Maness, and I know that the Tea Party loves him, and he's probably the best man for the job in all honesty.  I like his credentials a lot.

But.

He's not getting the numbers.  

True, Maness has picked up some important endorsements lately:

The remaining Republican opponent for Cassidy is Colonel Rob Maness, a 32-year Air Force veteran. Maness has been endorsed by leading Tea Party and conservative organizations. He received a major boost when he was endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who frequently tangles with the establishment wing of the Republican Party. He has also picked up support from the Senate Conservative Fund and the Tea Party Express. Today, he was endorsed by the Family Research Council and their PAC Chairman Tony Perkins, former Louisiana State Representative. Perkins is a leader in the social conservative movement in Louisiana and is closely associated with pro-life and pro-family organizations in the state. 

This endorsement should end the discussion of Maness dropping out of the Senate race. Many Cassidy supporters have been pushing for Maness to end his campaign, so Republicans can “unite” behind the Congressman. This endorsement is the latest sign that the Colonel is not going anywhere as Perkins surely would not have endorsed a candidate who is not fully committed to the race until the end.

And maybe this will spike Maness's numbers but I'm not seeing it.  Rep. Cassidy might be a RINO, as evidenced by his support for Obamacare, but it seems to me that he's the only person that's going to beat Landrieu and if we don't do ANYTHING else, we have to defeat Landrieu.  

To nobly stand behind a candidate that can't win won't help us in the long run.

This goes against everything I know:  I usually vote for the conservative candidate no matter what the establishment GOP says. The establishment GOP usually picks RINOS (see Crist v. Rubio).   But drastic times call for drastic measures.  There are still about 2.5 months in the campaign, and with Flight-Gate now in the news cycle Landrieu's numbers can be expected to dip slightly.  I don't think it will cause a major drop in her numbers because the general public doesn't follow this sort of thing much.  

While one would have hoped that the conservative Maness could have pulled this one off, the numbers don't show any possibility, the race is too close, and the stakes for the future and continued existence of our country are too high.  

It makes me sad, but reality bites.

Craig McCullough Challenges Big Names in Louisiana

Via The Other McCain, here's a pretty darn good message:



That's Craig McCulloch and he's running for Congress in Louisiana's 6th district.  He'll be challenged by a plethora of other candidates.

There are at least seven Republican candidates in this race, one of which is Paul Dietzell II, a name most in Louisiana will recognize.  Most folks in this state can tell you all about his grandfather's Chinese Bandits

and his career as head coach at LSU.  You just can't buy name recognition like that.

Another candidate with great name recognition in this race is state Senator Dan Claitor.  Claitor's Bookstore has been a respected publisher in the state for years with a focus on important cultural, literary, and historical subjects in Louisiana.  Dan Claitor was elected in 2009 for the seat vacated by Bill Cassidy who is now running against Senator Mary Landrieu.  (In that particular race, Sarah Palin has endorsed Col. (Ret.) Rob Maness.)  The district has been redrawn in this convoluted image via NOLA.

There are two Democrats in the race right now and anything can happen, but Craig McCulloch has a very good message.  This one will be interesting to watch.

Landrieu Faces Epic Battle in 2014Senate Race

The Advocate is looking ahead to the epic battle that will be the 2014 Senate race in Louisiana:

The end result means tens of millions of dollars are being funneled into Louisiana for a critical U.S. Senate race that could determine which party controls the Senate in 2015. More outside spending is allowed because of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case, which allows some third-party groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigns because of free-speech protections.

Senator Mary Landrieu will face two Republican contenders:  retired Air Force colonel Rob Maness and U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy.

Landrieu is expected to face a tough battle:

“She’s never had to face the voters after supporting President Barack Obama 95 percent of the time,” Short happily adds. “It’s going to be the central theme in this race.”

With Obama's public approval ratings in the abyss beneath the bottom cellar, that can't be encouraging for Landrieu.

Read more here.

H/T:  The Dead Pelican

Six More Years of Mary Landrieu

Senator Mary Landrieu picked up a new Republican challenger today which will effectively split the Republican vote and ensure Louisiana Purchase Mary six more years.

Rep. Bill Cassidy has already announced his candidacy.

Meet retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness.

Way to go.

"She's Kind of a Big Deal..."

Senator Mary Landrieu thinks she is "indispensable":

"Without sounding braggadocios, I'm indispensable in this effort to secure for Louisiana a significant and reliable string of revenue to save our coast," Landrieu, 57, said in an interview. 

She is, of course, referencing her work to save Louisiana's coastline which is important, but she's certainly not the only person to care about, or work for, that.

Senator Landrieu (D) is running for re-election in 2014, after seventeen years in the U.S. Senate.  She has drawn one Republican challenger so far, Rep. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana's sixth congressional district in south-central Louisiana.

Rep. John Fleming has opted out of a challenge saying that he does not want to splinter

Republican support for Rep. Cassidy.

While Senator Landrieu has indeed supported the Keystone pipeline, her voting record is otherwise abysmally liberal.  "Louisiana Purchase Mary" voted FOR Obamacare, FOR the 2009 stimulus bill, AGAINST the repeal of Obamacare,  She has voted FOR gun-control measures and FOR online sales taxes.

While nobody is really "indispensable," Senator Landrieu does seem to think she's "kind of a big deal."

Senator Landrieu might think she's indispensable, but I think it's time she learned that someone else can do her job and better represent Louisiana's values.  Rep. Cassidy's voting record to date is here.  SIGIS will be posting more about Rep. Cassidy's record and accomplishments.

Donate to Rep. Bill Cassidy's campaign and sign up to help.  His website is here.  His Facebook is here.

(H/T:  United Liberty)