Obama endorses Mary Landrieu on campaign call




President Obama joined Sen. Mary Landrieu on a conference call Monday to offer his endorsement in...President Obama joined Sen. Mary Landrieu on a conference call Monday to offer his endorsement in advance of her run-off election Saturday, even though Landrieu has focused during her re-election on separating herself from the president.

Obama said Landrieu "has been an outstanding advocate on behalf of Louisiana working families every step of the way," according to a tweetMonday by the Louisiana Democratic Party. A party spokeswoman did not comment.

Angela Young, a Louisiana-based consultant and Landrieu supporter, also tweeted Monday morning about Obama's endorsement on the call: "He's with @MaryLandrieu and so am I!!!!"

The president's last-minute support of Landrieu is noteworthy because she has spent the entire election cycle seeking to emerge from his political shadow, including in the run-off to be decided Saturday. A spokesman for Landrieu did not comment on the president's endorsement.


As her challenger, Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy, has sought to tie Landrieu and her voting record to the president, who remains unpopular in much of Louisiana, Landrieu has seized any opportunity to distinguish herself from Obama — including recently bringing to a Senate vote the Keystone XL pipeline, a project the president opposes. That gambit failed by one vote.

Meanwhile, Landrieu has not pulled punches against Obama in her campaign advertising. In a recent radio ad, posted on YouTube by Landrieu's campaign, a wife insists to her husband that a vote for Landrieu is not equivalent to supporting Obama.

"We're not voting for Obama," the woman tells her skeptical husband in the ad. "We're voting for us and our future."

But Landrieu's re-election also will depend on historic turnout among African-American voters in and around New Orleans — and a last-minute endorsement by Obama might help drive some of those voters to the polls.

A similar attempt by another vulnerable Democrat, Sen. Kay Hagan, fell short last month in North Carolina. Hagan's campaign ran radio ads late in the election cycle targeting African-American voters with Obama's endorsement, even though Hagan had sought for most of the election to distance herself from the president. She lost re-election by a narrow margin.

Landrieu and Cassidy will meet Monday evening for their only debate of the run-off period. In advance of the debate, Cassidy's campaign has suggested on Twitter that the president will be a theme.

"Watch tonight’s debate at 7 p.m. to see Mary Landrieu explain why she voted with Obama 97% of the time," one tweet read.

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