Sitting behind a folding table in an office strewn with yard signs, telephone wires, newspapers, and empty coffee cups the campaign manager for the Suzie Terrell campaign for U.S. Senate peered at me with the exact same look the commander of the garrison at Mesopotamia in the year 92 must have given the guy who showed up at his tent and said, "I'm from Rome, and I'm here to help."
The good news for the manager, 28-year-old Jude Melville, is: Control of the U.S. Senate is not at stake. "If it were," I told him at lunch, "you would have been replaced."
The bad news for Melville who, until this past August was in Afghanistan as a captain in the U.S. Air Force (and thus probably has a better understanding of Louisiana politics than anyone else in EITHER campaign), is that people like me will continue to drop in with little or no advance warning, expecting to be treated like the visiting experts we fervently believe ourselves to be.
There is also tension between the Washington-types who had previously parachuted in and (a) have 24 to 48 hours seniority, and (b) are there for the duration; and those who, like the Mullmeister, are on the four-meals-and-a-flight plan: Dinner-Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner-Delta.
Why is there a runoff? The law in Louisiana says that if no one received more than 50 percent of the vote on what, in the rest of the known universe, was General Election Day then the two top vote-getters would square off on December 7.
Incumbent Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) got about 46 percent of the vote on election day. Three Republicans got about 51 percent and minor candidates split the rest. Suzie Terrell, the commissioner of elections, led the second tier of candidates and made the runoff.
As of this writing here is the state of play in Louisiana: The Republican Governor has refused to endorse Terrell. The second-place Republican has endorsed her, but will not campaign for her. The third place Republican is AWOL.
As for Senator Landrieu, she fired just about everyone connected with her campaign the day after the election, then she awoke on Sunday to read a banner headline in the Baton Rouge newspaper stating three major Black state legislators had announced they were not endorsing Landrieu and she should not expect much support from African-American voters.
Here's a tip for understanding Louisiana politics for those of you who don't live here: You can't.
Multiple Choice Question:
Politics in Louisiana is to politics in the rest of the United States as
A. Olympic curling is to NFL football
B. Eminem is to Bach
C. Politics on Pluto is to politics on Earth.
D. All of the above.
This is what Jude Melville will spend the next three weeks dealing with. Neither his degree from Harvard nor his degree from the London School of Economics is likely to be of help. His military experience, however, will.
Early polls taken by the GOP indicate Terrell has broken out to a small lead over Landrieu. Inasmuch as there have been no polls released by the Democrats, we can safely assume their numbers reflect about the same thing.
Unless the Republican tide which washed over the nation on November 5 has already begun to ebb, Suzie Terrell will probably win, giving the GOP 52 seats in the U.S. Senate.
Nevertheless, we might do well to check the tide charts. On Pluto.
End Note: I asked a staff member how long it took before he stopped humming the Beatles' song, "Hey Jude" to himself. He said he didn't know yet.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the Suzie Terrell web site should you want to check her out (or donate), a link to the newspaper article about Black Legislators not supporting Mary Landrieu, a bit of history from the London School of Economics web page, and the usual things .
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