Democrat Mary Landrieu is in huge trouble coming up on her December 6 Senate runoff against Republican Bill Cassidy in Louisiana. Although she won a plurality in the November "jungle primary" by a single percentage point over Cassidy, the total number of Republican votes far outpaced Landrieu's total and she's trailing Cassidy in the polls by 5 points.
So with the nation's mood clearly expressed, what's an endangered Democrat - who unlike many of her colleagues still has a chance, but in a Lloyd Christmas sort of way - to do? Answer: Act like a Republican!
So gosh, you know what? It's time to approve that Keystone XL pipeline, wouldn't you say? Mary Landrieu is desperate for votes, so she certainly would:
Today on the Senate floor, Landrieu pitched her support for the Keystone pipeline as a key difference between her and President Obama; her strong support for him on most other issues continues to plague her bid for a fourth term. She said:
I believe it is time to act. I believe that we should take the new majority leader at his word and stop blocking legislation that is broadly supported by the American public and has been for quite some time.
TransCanada’s Keystone XL oil pipeline – proposed to run from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast of Texas — has been one of the biggest bones of contention between the Obama administration and lawmakers in both parties.
In an effort to distance herself from Obama, Landrieu called for the unanimous consent of the upper chamber on a bill to approve Keystone sponsored by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. The Louisiana Democrat, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 27 senators, co-sponsored the legislation.
Barely a week after Republicans won back the Senate majority and expanded their power in the House, party leaders have made it known that they intend to vote on the oil pipeline, among other bills, early next year — after the newly elected Republicans take their seats.
So after watching the State Department drag its feet on this for years and not saying a word about it, Senate Democrats are all of a sudden ready to hold a vote that presumes to force the administration's hand? And wait: Harry Reid is actually going to allow a vote on something that at least theoretically has a chance to pass the House?
Then again, since we are talking about something Harry Reid would have to sign off on, you can pretty well bet that any bill would be loaded up with hidden garbage that would make it untenable to the House. My guess here is that this is nothing more than a stunt designed to a) rescue Landrieu in advance of the runoff; and b) dare the House to oppose it after years of Republicans demanding action on Keystone.
The House would likely respond with a clean bill simply approving Keystone and doing nothing else, after which Republicans would have to try to explain to the public why their bill is the serious one and the Reid/Landrieu effort is a gunked-up-with-nonsense bunch of baloney. To the extent this depends on the media to explain, good luck.
But more to the point, do you really think Louisiana voters are going to be fooled by this? They know perfectly well that Landrieu could have pushed for this vote at any point in the past six years, and they know perfectly well why she is doing so right now.
