McCain win in La. fails to aid Kennedy
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State Treasurer John Kennedy’s attempt to ride presidential candidate John McCain’s coattails to victory failed Tuesday as Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu won re-election to a third term.
Republican McCain won Louisiana’s presidential vote — 59 percent to 40 percent over the national winner Democrat Barack Obama.
But Democrat Landrieu bested Republican Kennedy — 52 percent to 46 percent.
Lesser known candidates tallied the remainder of the votes cast in both races.
Secretary of State Jay Dardenne said apparently Louisiana voters went conservative on the presidential level but looked “at more of a Louisiana component when electing a senator.”
Dardenne said, “John’s campaign was based on more changing the Senate and identifying his candidacy with McCain. It just didn’t translate to voters.”
Kennedy, who converted from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party late last year, made his strong support of McCain a centerpiece of his campaign.
Kennedy consistently pointed to Landrieu’s support of the “liberal” Obama.
Kennedy’s spokesman, Kyle Plotkin, said the state treasurer was not doing interviews Wednesday.
McCain carried 54 of the state’s 64 parishes.
Kennedy topped Landrieu in 26 parishes — less than half of the parishes that McCain won. And, though winning them, Kennedy often garnered 10 to 20 percent fewer votes than those McCain racked up.
Former Secretary of State Al Ater said he sees strong evidence of voting along racial lines in the presidential election where Obama sought to become the first black U.S. president.
Looking at the parishes Obama lost, Ater said the Illinois senator suffered among some white voters. He said it was the same ethnicity problem Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal encountered in northeast Louisiana when he lost his first bid for governor in 2003.
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