Louisiana Senate race showcases GOP divide in three-way contest

Republicans have done a better job this election season of averting the primary battles that have split the party in past years and dashed its chances for winning control of the Senate.

Except in Louisiana.

The state’s open primary arrives on election day, and the three-way contest -- three-term Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu facing Republican Bill Cassidy, a congressman, and Rob Maness, a Sarah Palin-backed Republican newcomer -- was on full display in the first debate featuring all three candidates Tuesday evening.

No candidate emerged the clear winner of the hourlong skirmish, a thoughtful questioning in Shreveport that showcased the clear distinctions available to voters Nov. 4.

Maness, a retired Air Force colonel and the most conservative candidate, mostly needed to survive another day as he inches up in some polls. And his promises to vote against raising the nation’s borrowing limit, skepticism of climate change and desire to eliminate the Department of Education accomplished that.

Maness remains a long shot against his fellow Republican, Cassidy, but he is pulling away enough Republican votes in this conservative state that many strategists believe no candidate will eclipse the 50% mark, a situation that would trigger a December runoff.

Cassidy delivered attacks on President Obama -- “Obama is a zero,” on a ranking of 1 to 10, but as a medical doctor who treated poor patients found himself in agreement with Landrieu that healthcare is a right even as he vowed to undo Obamacare.

Landrieu, among the most endangered of the nation’s Democratic incumbents, sought to maintain a delicate balance as she courts Obama’s supporters as well as his detractors, who are many in this state. She made a point of opposing Obama when it comes to energy policy, critical to the oil-and-gas state, but giving him a “six or seven” in overall performance. She showed no sign of running away from her vote in favor of Obamacare.

“We have to keep it,” Landrieu said of the healthcare law.

A three-way contest is not what Republicans had in mind as they try to topple Landrieu in their pursuit of six net seats to win control of the Senate.

But as Tuesday’s debate showed, three candidates remain standing.

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