As Mary Landrieu and John Kennedy debate tonight for the US Senate seat, some are wondering if the challenger will ever hit his stride.

While the polls have placed Landrieu in a strong double digit lead in the past month, if Kennedy is ever going to overtake Landrieu, the debate better be the catalyst for that change.

Kennedy is certainly familiar with come-from-behind victories.  He was general counsel for Buddy Roemer who blew past well-known opposition in the final weeks on a wave of reform.  Roemer had one thing going for him at the time, the city newspapers all started to galvanize behind him and he peaked at the right time.

So, it is with some confusion that Kennedy or his allies would take on the Times Picayune at a point in time that he needs to get the dailies to show their support.

On Friday, the Chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, Roger Villere, basically cast the Picayune as biased against Kennedy.  Perhaps the editorial staff of the Picayune is in fact supportive of Landrieu but when you are substantially behind your opponent, have less than one-half the money of the incumbent, have high officials  from the Republican party in both St. Tammany and Jefferson Parish supporting Landrieu, do you go after a major daily?

Villere’s statement said, “Just when you think you’ve seen it all, liberal Mary Landrieu and The New Orleans Times-Picayune this week hit a new low.  With our economy on the brink and families facing tough times, Mary Landrieu and the New Orleans Times-Picayune want you to believe John Kennedy was opposed to disaster aid for Louisiana farmers. Kennedy has never changed his position on disaster aid for farmers. He has and will always fight for our farmers – but using farmers as election-year pawns like Mary Landrieu is just wrong.

Louisianans are fed up with politics as usual. We need reform. John Kennedy is a conservative who will fight for change in Washington.  For the last decade Kennedy has been at the center of every major debate facing Louisianans and always standing up for taxpayers, while Mary Landrieu has been sitting on the sidelines, voting with the special interests and blaming others for telling the truth about her record.

The status quo in Washington isn’t work for us. But Mary Landrieu and the New Orleans Times-Picayune will do everything they can to keep things just as they are.”

Even assuming Villere is right, the attack is not smart politics.  You can also bet that the Villere statement was not written without the knowledge of the Kennedy campaign. 

Not that the Times Picayune has not strongly opposed a candidate before and failed to persuade the public.  It strongly vilified David Duke in his runs for numerous positions but Duke was able to prevail in the first election against John Treen.  In fact, Duke also came from no-where in the last weeks of the primary when he won the election for State Representative of District 81, a race that Villere happened to be a first primary candidate. 

Miracles can happen in politics and Kennedy is no stranger to Louisiana politics.  But, if he and the Louisiana GOP are going to run against the dailies, they better have a candidate with a compelling message.  Saying a publication is biased doesn’t make it so.  Kennedy needs all the support he can muster right now and making enemies with those who can be supportive is a sure-fire way to lose an election that is uphill for starts. 









 

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