Over 1 million pilgrims benefit from golf cart service at Grand Mosque during Ramadan    Visitors welcomed with Eid initiative at Thee Ain Heritage Village in Al-Baha    Tebuk emir reviews rain response in Tayma    Saudi Arabia considers rent cap as part of major real estate reforms    Messi's bodyguard banned from touchline at Inter Miami games    Screen time in bed linked to insomnia, study finds    Le Pen vows to appeal political ban, calls verdict a 'denial of democracy'    Death toll from Myanmar earthquake rises to 2,719 as rescue efforts continue    Russia, Ukraine trade blame over new energy strikes    Putin orders Russia's largest military call-up in over a decade    Albania hosts MWL chief for Eid sermon at largest mosque in the Balkans    Haramain High-Speed Railway transports over 1.2 million passengers during Ramadan    Saudi Transport Authority says passengers can ride for free if taxi meters are off    Ministry of Education forms 425 community partnerships with SR653 million impact    Mexico bans junk food in schools to fight childhood obesity epidemic    Sweet sales surge ahead of Eid as Saudi chocolate imports top 123 million kg in 2024    Saudi creatives shine at Jeddah's Fawanees Nights with art, fashion, and storytelling    T1 CEO confirms Gumayusi's return for LCK Spring after lineup shakeup    100 Thieves claim Marvel Rivals Invitational NA crown as 2025 scene heats up    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Saudi Arabia hold Japan to goalless draw in Saitama to stay in World Cup hunt    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    King Salman prays for peace and stability for Palestinians in Ramadan message King reaffirms Saudi Arabia's commitment to serving the Two Holy Mosques and pilgrims    Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan 'out of danger' after attack at home in Mumbai    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Obama is Democrat's biggest hurdle in Louisiana
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 01 - 12 - 2014

THIBODAUX, Louisiana — President Barack Obama may not be on Louisiana's Senate runoff ballot, but it's clear his widespread unpopularity in the state stands as Democratic Sen.
Mary Landrieu's biggest hurdle to a fourth term. Landrieu led an eight-candidate primary, but her 42 percent was only 16,000 votes ahead of Republican Rep.
Bill Cassidy and far short of her 2008 totals when she won without a runoff. Exit polls explain the collapse: Landrieu got votes from 18 percent of whites, while nearly three out of four white voters said they strongly disapprove of the president.
“It's not so much a Mary thing as it is a Democrat thing and Obama thing,” said restaurant owner Dean Gehbauer of Thibodaux.
That makes Cassidy, a congressman from Baton Rouge, the favorite on Dec. 6. A Cassidy win would push Republicans' new Senate majority to 54 seats in January and complete the party's southern sweep of top statewide offices from the Carolinas westward to Texas.
Election returns offer little to suggest Gehbauer is wrong. In the last six years, Landrieu lost ground to Republicans in every Louisiana parish.
In 2008, she defeated Republican John Kennedy by 121,111 votes statewide. This time, Cassidy and third-place finisher Rob Maness, an ultraconservative tea-party favorite who has since endorsed Cassidy, combined to lead Landrieu by 186,207 votes, a net swing of 307,318.
Thibodaux's surrounding parish — Lafourche — illuminates the shift as one of 12 parishes that Landrieu won in 2008 but lost on Nov. 4. She defeated Kennedy here by 265 votes, running about 8,000 votes ahead of Obama. This time, she trailed Cassidy by 3,277. Adding Maness's support, her deficit was 8,922.
Landrieu never has surpassed 52.1 percent statewide, and the 2014 midterms always promised difficulty. In the presidential elections of 1996 and 2008, she benefited from strong Democratic turnout, particularly among African-Americans, that typically wanes in midterm elections.
She ran in the 2002 midterms as a moderate who worked with Republican President George W. Bush, who twice carried Louisiana.
But this year, for the first time, Landrieu faces a midterm electorate with the White House occupied by a Democrat who is widely unpopular in her state, a circumstance that led to defeats for Democratic incumbents in North Carolina, Arkansas and Alaska.
“This has been, first and foremost, a referendum on Barack Obama and then only secondarily on Mary Landrieu,” said Thibodaux attorney Matthew Block, one of Landrieu's financial backers. “After that, it was just a question of which Republican would catch fire.”
Like her vanquished colleagues, Landrieu has tried to distance herself from Obama. She touted her energy committee chairmanship as a boon to this oil-rich state and noted her role in increasing Louisiana's royalties from offshore exploration.
In mid-November, after Democrats' national thrashing in the Nov. 4 elections, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid allowed floor debate on construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, a symbolic proxy of the battle between the energy industry and environmental advocates.
The procedural vote fell one shy of the 60 needed to allow a final vote. Instead of Landrieu affirming her influence, Republicans crowed that she's of little value with Obama and Reid in charge.
Landrieu still highlights her work securing federal aid after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
That garnered endorsements from several local Republican leaders in 2008, but many of them are now mum.
Similarly, the US Chamber of Commerce abandoned Landrieu after endorsing her six years ago, though the powerful lobby stopped short of backing Cassidy.
The senator has focused her television advertising on Cassidy's support for Republican budgets that would curtail Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Yet exit polls still show she claimed 36 percent among voters age 65 and older, and 41 percent among voters age 45-64. Landrieu managed 50 percent among 18- to 29-year-olds, but that group accounted for only an estimated 12 percent of the electorate. — AP


Clic here to read the story from its source.