Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is battling against the odds for her political life with little money and no backing from the national Democratic Party, according to
The Washington Post.
Her Republican challenger, Rep. Bill Cassidy, is heavily favored to defeat the three-term incumbent in their runoff election on Saturday. An
IWV/GEB International poll released on Monday shows Cassidy ahead by 26 points.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has little incentive to spend more money on Landrieu's behalf. She's way behind in the polls and even if she were to somehow win, Republicans would still control the Senate.
In the open election, Landrieu leveraged her role as chairwoman of the Energy Committee. Now, no matter what happens on Saturday, a Republican will head the committee in the next Congress, according to the Post.
Landrieu says she is "extremely disappointed" by how the national party has treated her.
"You know, they just walked away from this race," she told the Post.
With Obama highly unpopular in the state, Republicans have tied her to the president.
"Senator Landrieu represents Barack Obama. I represent you," Cassidy said in their last debate.
She initially dissociated herself from Obama. Her current tack is to say the contest "isn't about whether you like Bill Clinton as president or George Bush as president or Barack Obama as president," the Post reported.
Landrieu is battling on making a special — if unrealistic — effort to get out the African-American vote using radio. She has accused Cassidy of disrespecting Obama by not referring to him by his title.
She's also suggested that Cassidy, a physician, may have improperly taken a part-time teaching salary when he was already in Congress.
By one count, there have been less than 100 ads on Landrieu's behalf compared to 6,000 touting Cassidy during the runoff period.
If she loses as expected, the Deep South will be sending only Republican senators to the new Congress. And Louisiana will have lost its last statewide Democratic elected official, the Post reported.
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