Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is traveling to Louisiana this weekend to stump for Rob Maness, the Tea Party-backed candidate who is running for Senate against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, and Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy.
Elections in Louisiana are a bit different from other places in that they are open primaries. All candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party affiliation, and if no candidate manages to crack 50 percent on Nov. 4, then the top two contenders face off again in a runoff election to be held later in December. That means if the two Republicans place first and second, they go on to the runoff.
This year’s battle for the Louisiana Senate seat has been dominated mostly by Cassidy and Landrieu, but Maness’ continued presence in a race, as well as his introducing Palin into the mix, has Republican and Democratic strategists preparing for the likelihood of a December runoff election.
“Everyone was preparing for a possibility of a runoff pre-Palin,” a Republican organizer on the ground in Louisiana told the Washington Examiner Friday. “But Palin bringing her celebrity and bringing her money down here only makes that far more likely. Everyone is buying up the air for the post-election because they think Maness is going to throw it into a run-off.”
He continued: “Even if Cassidy manages to pull it off in the end, that’s several millions of dollars that we had to blow in a 30-day runoff.”
Palin and Maness will dine this Saturday on alligator before she speaks at a “#OneofUs” campaign event, designed to draw distinctions between the Tea Party candidate and his Republican and Democratic opponents.
Maness’ message is that Cassidy and Landrieu are both out-of-touch and blind to the needs of the people of the state. “If you could sum up this campaign, it’s two of them vs. one of us,” a source familiar with Saturday’s event said in an interview with The Hill.
The source added: “Mary Landrieu illegally uses taxpayer dollars to pay for charter planes. Bill Cassidy is hosting Mitt Romney at a white-linen fundraising event for the 1 percent. Former Republican vice presidential nominee and Gov. Sarah Palin will be joining Rob Maness at an event here in Louisiana at a local restaurant with a great story serving some gator.”
An email to the Tea Party candidate’s supporters touted the weekend event and a “very special guest” who is visiting the state “to support Rob and help promote his positive platform of #SolutionsForUs!”
The email asks that supporters bring other undecided voters to Saturday’s event so that they decide whom to vote for in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Rob’s candidacy is confounding the ‘experts’ and is going to shock the establishment on Election Day,” the email reads.
Cassidy currently leads the embattled Landrieu by 5.6 points in the polls, according to the latest average from Real Clear Politics.
Maness polls far behind both Cassidy and Landrieu, but has managed in recent months to gain a little traction. The Palin appearance may give him a slight boost, but it’s extremely unlikely that her involvement will put him above Landrieu and create an all-GOP runoff.
“This could very well end in Mary Landrieu winning because it’s such a tight race now and the advantage in these sorts of runoff situations usually goes to the incumbent,” the Republican organizer told the Examiner. “And she has been an incumbent for several years. Her family is very deeply rooted in Louisiana.”
“So if it does go into a runoff, then the advantage immediately shifts to her,” he added. “Not only is [Maness] going to waste all of our money, he’s going to waste all of our time and he’s going to potentially give this race to Mary Landrieu.”
