Is It Mary Or Is It The Message? What Landrieu Needs To Consider

She has been a Senator from Louisiana for the past 18 years. In that time she has risen in the ranks of congress. Currently she holds some key committee assignments and is chairman of the Senate Energy Committee. That's what we've been hearing in Senator Mary Landrieu's campaign advertisements the past several months. Unfortunately for Mary Landrieu that message is not connecting very well with voters.

One political observer, Bob Mann a professor of Mass Communications at LSU, explained it to the Louisiana Radio Network like this.

"People look at Washington and think it's dysfunctional and it's part of the problem and to remind people that you've been there for 18 years is probably not a winning message and it didn't prove to be very compelling in the Tuesday election."

Another thing to consider is the because of the results of Tuesday's election across the country, the Democrats no longer have control of the United State's Senate. That means that Senator Landrieu will no longer be the chairman of that Senate Energy Committee. That strikes a big blow against the current campaign strategy.

Mann does say that Senator Landrieu does have some issues and an audience that might be very receptive to her stance on those issues. Mann feels that Landrieu could do quite well with women voters in the state.

"She's got to explain to them that Cassidy, in her estimation, is not good for the interest of women and why she is.  And there's a lot of issues I think she can talk about if she chooses to do so."

Based upon Tuesday's results the sitting Senator has a lot of ground to make  up on Bill Cassidy. You can expect the barbs to be flying fast and furiously over the next few weeks as we get closer to the December 6th runoff.