With President Barack Obama's popularity hitting newer lows every day, and Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., doing everything he can to tie his opponent, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., to Obama's shirttails, she can hardly be blamed for distancing herself as far as possible from her party's leader.
Landrieu, who faced Cassidy and tea party favorite Rob Maness in a three-way debate Tuesday, stressed that she disagrees with Obama on major issues like energy policy and his planned executive action on amnesty for illegal aliens and, when asked how she would rate Obama as a president on a scale of one to 10, replied, "A six to seven,"
CBS News reported.
Both Maness and Cassidy, seeking Landrieu's Senate seat, gave Obama a rating of zero, with Cassidy saying Obama will "go down as one of the worst presidents."
Cassidy continually linked Landrieu and Obama, saying, "Do you want Senator Landrieu to complete Barack Obama’s agenda? If so, vote for her. If you want someone who wants Washington to serve you instead of you serving Washington, D.C., then vote Bill Cassidy,"
The Hill reported.
Landrieu, Cassidy and Maness are locked in a struggle which seems almost certain to be headed for a Dec. 6 runoff election, required in Louisiana if no candidate manages to exceed 50 percent of the vote.
On Obama's plan to address amnesty for illegal aliens with executive action, Landrieu said, "As chair of the Homeland Security Committee which has jurisdiction over the border, I’ve increased border agents, built a smart and sophisticated fence and I have voted for a bill that John McCain authored, who was with my opponent yesterday, that would double the number of agents on the border and provide a pathway to citizenship for 12 million people.
"So, I do not support executive action. I support congressional action. I have already voted for that bill. My opponent Bill Cassidy has not. I voted for a strong border security bill. I’m waiting for Bill Cassidy to do the same,"
Breitbart News reported.
On global warming, she said, "I do believe our climate is changing and I do believe that humans contribute. However, we have to be very careful about the policies that we promote," but hastened to add, "I do not agree with President Obama on his energy policies."
In a late September CNN/ORC poll, Landrieu was ahead of Cassidy by 43 to 40 percent, and the poll notes that only 40 percent of Louisiana participants approve of Obama's performance as president.
Real Clear Politics shows Cassidy with a 5.3 percent lead over Landrieu, 49.3-44 percent, but that's nowhere near enough to avoid a runoff election.
"While President Obama is not on the ballot, the future of Louisiana is," Landrieu said in her closing statement.
"Although the president may not be popular in some parts of Louisiana, he’s wildly popular in others. I’ve worked with three presidents. I haven’t agreed with President Obama on everything. I didn’t agree with President Bush on everything, and I didn’t agree with President Clinton on everything," Breitbart News reported.