Less than 24 hours before polls open in Louisiana’s runoff election, things are not looking good for incumbent Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA).
The most recent poll, conducted by GEB International, shows her challenger, Representative Bill Cassidy (R-LA), with a 26 point lead. The Real Clear Politics average of all polls conducted over the last month shows Cassidy is up by more than 17 points.
By all accounts, Landrieu’s support is hemorrhaging in this race for the last remaining contested seat in the United States Senate. If Landrieu loses, it will be yet another indication of how poorly the Democratic Party brand is faring these days in the Deep South, and particularly with white voters.
The Republican National Committee is already taking a victory lap.
As the Washington Examiner reports based on an internal memo: “the RNC outlined its work during the month-long runoff campaign that public opinion polls project as an easy Cassidy victory over incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. The national party invested $2 million in the race, paying the same attention to early voting and get-out-the-vote activities that helped Republicans capture close Senate seats in the Nov. 4 general election.”
While premature announcements of victory have sometimes backfired (just ask President Thomas E. Dewey), there is very little evidence that offers Landrieu and her supporters any hope that she will pull off the upset of the 2014 election cycle tomorrow.
Not every conservative group is ready to declare victory in Louisiana. Brian Baker, President of the Ending Spending Action Fund, told Breitbart News on Wednesday, “Senator Landrieu has shown that she is a survivor.”
Baker encouraged every conservative to go the polls on Saturday. Baker’s group put its money where its mouth is, spending $1.7 million through its various organizations prior to Saturday’s election.
Despite Baker’s caution, no one in either party who is not paid by the Landrieu campaign expects her to win tomorrow.