Two emails:  One emphasizing Mary Landrieu’s “moderate” stance in Washington, the other citing an article that impliedly criticizing the Democrats for purchasing ad buy time for Landrieu.  The email was sent by the National Republican Senatorial Committee who has funded a number of John Kennedy ads and are now hitting the Internet pathways for him.

Here are the two releases:

United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., was one of the most moderate and bipartisan members of the Senate during the Bush presidency, according to a compilation of Congressional Quarterly’s annual voting studies released on CQ.com this week. On each measure of all Senate votes during President Bush’s two terms, through Congress’ October 3 recess, Sen. Landrieu crossed the aisle to forge consensus with Senate Republicans more often than all but one other Democrat.

In CQ’s ranking of all 100 Senators by how often they supported President Bush’s positions, she ranked at number 50 – dead center. Only four of the other 99 Senators of either party have broken ranks with their party to work across the aisle more often than Sen. Landrieu.

“My approach in the Senate is to vote for the interests of the people in Louisiana, not for the interests any political party,” Sen. Landrieu said. “Time and again, I have bucked my party on key votes, including opposing a Democratic energy bill that would have forced Louisiana to foot the bill. I have also led efforts to override presidential vetoes of important bills for our state, including last year’s Water Resources bill and this year’s Farm Bill. I will continue to vote for Louisiana first in the United States Senate.”

Sen. Landrieu has worked closely with Republicans on significant pieces of legislation, such as the Domenic-Landrieu Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act and other domestic oil and gas drilling bills. In the spring of 2005, she was part of a group of seven Democrats and seven Republicans, the “Gang of 14,” that averted a Senate shutdown over judicial nominations.

In March, the National Journal magazine's annual voting study called Sen. Landrieu the Senate's “ideological center." The nonpartisan news magazine noted there are an equal number of Senators with a more conservative voting record than Sen. Landrieu as there are with a more liberal record. Also in March, Congress.org’s 2008 Congressional Power Rankings named Sen. Landrieu the 10th most effective legislator in the Senate, and cited her moderate position's “influence [on] the legislative process” as a key component of her high ranking.

With Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Sen. Landrieu currently serves as co-chair of the Common Ground Coalition. The bipartisan group of Senators discusses key issues of the 110th Congress in order to build consensus for bipartisan, commonsense legislation.

Congressional Quarterly’s report is available to subscribers here: http://www.cqpolitics.com/cq-assets/cqmultimedia/flash/votestudy/index.html

From the NRSC:

http://www.rollcall.com/news/29538-1.html

DSCC Back on the Air in Louisiana

October 24, 2008, 4:07 p.m.
By David M. Drucker
Roll Call Staff

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is back on television in Louisiana to bolster the re-election of Sen. Mary Landrieu, who is facing some late-breaking competition from state Treasurer John Kennedy (R).

The DSCC hit the statewide broadcast and cable airwaves Friday after placing its media buys late Thursday, sources confirmed. The DSCC is set to spend at least $424,144 from now to Election Day, according to figures obtained by Roll Call.

“I guess their recent poll that showed Landrieu up 20 points just isn’t the case — unless this is their new strategy, to spend money on a safe seat,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher said. “The DSCC just can’t seem to decide who to help and who to abandon.”

Louisiana represents the GOP’s lone Senate pickup opportunity of this election cycle, and recent internal polling by the NRSC showed Landrieu with a 5-point lead. Republicans described the DSCC’s decision to get back into this race as defensive, arguing that it validates the NRSC’s claim that the race is tight.

But Democrats described the DSCC’s move as cautionary, noting that the Democratic committee is back up in Louisiana only because the NRSC is on the air there. The DSCC, on offense in the 10 or so other competitive Senate races, previously ceased advertising in Louisiana only after the NRSC did the same. http://www.rollcall.com/news/29538-1.html?type=printer_friendly

“While the NRSC can't seem to decide whether they really support John Kennedy or not, we have consistently backed Mary Landrieu, and she's going to win because Louisianans strongly support her too,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said.

The DSCC’s buy also comes on the heels of popular Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) cutting a television ad this week for Kennedy. The DSCC bought time in seven markets: New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lafayette, Monroe-El Dorado, Lake Charles and Alexandria.

Bayoubuzz Note:  A recent Rasmussen poll released yesterday showed Landrieu up by ten points.