Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and a conservative kingmaker, is doubling her efforts in Louisiana to get retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness elected to the U.S. Senate over GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and incumbent Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
“Those folks in Washington should visit Louisiana like I have recently,” Palin told Breitbart News exclusively when asked what to make of the GOP establishment efforts to push Maness out of the race. “The momentum, enthusiasm, and dedication for Rob Maness is real, and I’ve seen it – along with a few live gators! The other candidates have spent millions on the air bashing each other with uninspiring ads.”
“Rob’s hard work and his one creative gator-wrestling ad got his message out. He campaigns much like we did in Alaska – going voter to voter and door to door,” she explained. “He’s visited all 64 of Louisiana’s parishes in his Ford F-150. He even drove it to the event we had two weeks ago. He’s had 50 town halls and is the only candidate in the race to put forward positive, conservative solutions. He is the breath of fresh air Louisianans crave, and the polling data is reflecting that.”
“I’m so glad ‘The Great One’ Mark Levin agrees and has jumped on board for Col. Maness, and I hope others will follow suit!” she stated.
Palin has been Maness’ most high profile and powerful supporter, and her backing comes amid a difficult year for grassroots conservative candidates.
In next door Mississippi, the GOP establishment slaughtered state Sen. Chris McDaniel–engaging in what many conservatives, including McDaniel, called widespread voter fraud and a get-out-the-vote effort in Democratic Party stronghold communities to support six-term incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS).
In Tennessee, the establishment-backed incumbent Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) won an unexpectedly close primary race after state Rep. Joe Carr ran an aggressive campaign against him there.
And in Kansas, incumbent GOP Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) is facing the fight of his political career against liberal pro-amnesty “independent” Greg Orman after beating Tea Party-backed Milton Wolf in the primary, who had a strong showing against Roberts.
But now the Tea Party is aiming to strike back in Louisiana. The unique election laws and jungle style general election allows Maness to face off against Cassidy and Landrieu at the same time–and if nobody gets 50 percent on election day in November, the race will head to an expected runoff.
What’s unclear, however, is which Republican will face Landrieu in said runoff. Right now, it would probably be Cassidy. But Maness is polling at 18 percent according to a CC Advertising poll conducted Sept. 30–a poll highlighted by Maness’ campaign in a polling memo–to Cassidy’s 34 percent and Landrieu’s 40 percent. Another poll conducted the same day by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, had Maness at 12 percent to Cassidy’s 34 percent and Landrieu’s 40 percent.
Take that with the jungle election system, and Palin says there’s a good shot for Maness to come from behind to beat Cassidy into the runoff and then take Landrieu down.
“Louisiana has the most unique and free election system in the country where voters have so many options and time to review,” Palin told Breitbart News. “All Rob needs is a few more points in the polls to get him into the runoff where we know he will stand in stark contrast to Sen. Landrieu’s liberalism and 97% support of the Obama agenda.”
Maness definitely has some momentum going for him. Palin has been extremely active in this race, and on Monday evening radio’s Mark Levin endorsed Maness over Cassidy and Landrieu.
“All right, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been weighing this one for quite a while now,” Levin said. “There’s actually one election left in three weeks in Louisiana that involves a few Republicans running and of course landfill-Landrieu running and there could be a run off among the top two candidates if neither one gets fifty percent. You got landfill-Landrieu, you’ve got a guy named Cassidy who is a through-and-through RINO and then you’ve got a conservative running by name the name of Rob Maness.”
Levin said he knows “it’s an uphill fight” but told his listeners nationwide, “quite frankly ladies and gentleman, I’m used to them.”
“Rob Maness, I’m going to endorse you for the Senate in Louisiana and I hope all my brothers and sisters listening in the state of Louisiana, residents of the state of Louisiana will take a good look at Rob Maness – he is the conservative in the race,” Levin said. “The polling shows him behind, but we’re always behind. But anyway Maness for Senate in Louisiana, that’s my final endorsement in these these races and it’s doable if the people of Louisiana want to conservative up against Landrieu, who can in fact beat Landrieu and who will be a conservative in the U.S. Senate.”
“So, once more, I endorse Col. Rob Maness, retired, for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana, that’ll be a surprise to him and his supporters cause I have given it a lot of thought over the weekend, no prodding by anybody and just decided to do so on my own,” he explained.
Palin told Breitbart News that if Maness wins, Washington will be trembling.
“This race reminds me much of the Nebraska primary with Deb Fischer. Both races were really ‘two of them vs. one of us’ – politicians looking for promotion or longevity vs. an American patriot running to help fix Washington!” Palin said. “Electing an American hero like Rob Maness, someone who has put service over self and who has sacrificed so much for love of country, is just what we need in the Senate.”
“Rob will stand strong against politics as usual from any establishment and will not waver in the face of the Obama agenda like so many others in DC,” she explained. “He will be a conservative warrior because it’s in his blood and in his heart. He’ll stand with the good guys like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee. The U.S. Senate won’t know what hit them when Rob Maness shakes them up.”
It’ll be interesting to see what happens next. All three candidates face off in a televised debate in Shreveport on Tuesday night, but Cassidy has ducked some debates; Landrieu actually debated directly against Maness last week in an event Cassidy didn’t show up to.