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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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O Governor, Where Art Thou?
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Race
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| Contributor | Brandonius Maximus |
| Last Edited | Brandonius Maximus Oct 20, 2008 06:38pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| Media | Newspaper - Gambit Weekly |
| News Date | Tuesday, October 21, 2008 12:35:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | You could still see a blotchy, red mark on his cheek minutes after the blow was dealt. At least metaphorically, you could see it — a sideways strawberry with five fingers protruding toward the ear. You could see it in his eyes, which danced around nervously during his closing statement. You could also hear it in his cadence as he twice repeated a sentence about voters wanting change in the U.S. Senate. And thanks to the technology of TiVo and the online archival efforts of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, the verbal smackdown of the election cycle can be viewed at any time, no doubt to the ire of GOP state Treasurer John Kennedy.
In a way, Kennedy was asking for it during the Oct. 12 debate hosted by LPB and the Council for a Better Louisiana. Like throwing wet spaghetti against a wall, he reached for any possible way to link incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu to Democratic nominee Barack Obama. It was old hand. He had been calling Obama and Landrieu liberal peas in a pod for weeks. But noticeably different was Kennedy's overly boastful rhetoric about Republican nominee John McCain. He clearly felt that the "Straight Talk Express" could carry his own campaign as well, at least in Louisiana.
That's when Landrieu smacked him: "John, I know you're trying very hard, but Sen. McCain's coattails are not long enough for you."
It drew the only boisterous round of applause that evening from the Baton Rouge audience, which consisted mostly of college students. She might as well have told him she knew the real John Kennedy, was friends with the real John Kennedy and he was not the real John Kennedy. Considering the flak Kennedy has taken for switching parties last year and the subsequent Democratic attacks — which have been very effective — that he's "one confused politician," the zinger may define Landrieu the way Sen. Lloyd Bentsen's evocation of J.F.K. defined him.
Three days later in New Orleans, during the second televised Senate debate, the red mark was absen |
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