Is Keystone Pipeline Fail In Senate The Last Straw For Landrieu?

A good portion of Mary Landrieu's Senate campaign strategy was built around her clout in the United States Senate. Last night that body demonstrated that Landrieu's clout was not enough to push passage of legislation on the Keystone XL pipeline. Could this very public defeat of this Landrieu sponsored legislation be the final straw in Landrieu's Senate career? Many political pundits believe that it is.

Bernie Pinsonat a political observer and commentator suggested in a story published by the Louisiana Radio Network that this was the swan song for the senior Senator from Louisiana.

"I don't know why Landrieu would continue to run. The Democrats have basically deserted her and the Louisiana voters have spoken and 60% of them did not vote for an incumbent US Senator."

While many feel the Senate passage of the Keystone XL legislation would not have changed the outcome of the Senate battle between Landrieu and Congressman Bill Cassidy, the defeat of the legislation probably makes things worse. Bernie Pinsonat explained,

"This bill may have helped a little bit, but certainly now the way it's turned out is even more devastating."

It looks now like the Landrieu campaign and the Keystone XL pipeline are in the same kind of political limbo. They are both still hanging around in Washington but for how long?

Perhaps this is actually Landrieu's brilliant campaign strategy. The idea is to make the Republican supporters feel so over confident they don't turn out at the polls on December 6th. Maybe the Republican voters will sit at home on election day figuring this one is in the bag. While Landrieu gather's her supporters in the New Orleans area and loads them on school buses and gets them too the polls. It's certainly been done before. If ever the dead were going to rise again to cast a vote in the Crescent City this would be the election where the ghosts of Louisiana's political history could rise again.