One More for The Dems

It has been more than 70 years since a sitting Senator lost an election in Louisiana. It has been almost 120 years since a Republican senatorial candidate in Louisiana won one. Both those streaks are safe–for now. On Saturday, Senator Mary Landrieu successfully defended her seat against challenger Suzanne Haik Terrell, by 51% to 49%, in a nasty, narrow runoff election that gives dazed Democrats a silver lining to their dark midterm cloud.

As victories go, it was an ugly one. Landrieu came into this race as the favorite. But Louisiana’s idiosyncratic electoral system requires that candidates get 50% of the vote or face a runoff, and on Nov. 5 Landrieu came up just short, with 46%. That opened the door for Terrell, and she charged through it with a parade of Republican heavyweights right behind her: George Bush, Trent Lott and Dick Cheney all stumped for her. Meanwhile, Landrieu scrambled to put distance between herself and her crippled party, pointing out that this year she voted with Bush 74% of the time. Both sides seized the low ground with attack ads: Republicans screeched that Landrieu voted for taxpayer-funded abortions, and Democrats chastised Terrell for not opposing Bush’s plan to increase sugar imports from Mexico–a bad move in a sugar state like Louisiana.

In the end, Landrieu managed to galvanize just enough of her crucial African-American base to break ahead. Her victory leaves the Republicans with a slim majority in the Senate and Democrats with a key lesson. If they’re going to have a chance in 2004, Democrats will have to crack Bush’s hold on the South. Landrieu just might be able to teach them how. –By Lev Grossman