Audience members at Louisiana’s final televised Senate debate could have forgotten they were sitting in the University’s Journalism Building on Wednesday.
The anxious crowds of campaign staffers, political VIPs and anticipating media members transformed the Holliday Forum, if only for an hour, into a gripping political landscape.
With one minute to respond to questions, Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.; and Republican Col. Robert Maness hurled talking points and rhetorical fireballs in their last televised stand. The candidates used their responses to almost every question to toss barbs at one another.
Right out of the gate, Landrieu zinged Cassidy for his failure to appear at two past debates.
“It’s good to see you facing the voters finally,” Landrieu said in her opening remarks.
Cassidy’s absence at past debates was the subject of one of three questions in the first minutes of the debate, none of which dealt with policy issues.
Panelist and KSLA News 12 anchor Doug Warner asked the Republican frontrunner if he skirted debates to coast to a runoff.
“People are always going to ascribe motives to you,” Cassidy responded.
Panelist and KPLC anchor Cynthia Arceneaux questioned Landrieu about her past travel expenditures.
Landrieu reimbursed the federal government in September for more than $33,000 worth of charter flights that were funded with taxpayer dollars.
“I take full responsibility for that error,” Landrieu said. “I’ve paid it back.”
While some questions revolved around the politics, others centered around contested policy issues.
University Student Government president Clay Tufts asked Maness about his pledge to only serve two terms in the Senate if elected. Tufts questioned if his arrangement would benefit a long-term position of power in Congress.
Maness said he would fight in the Senate to establish Congressional term limits.
“Our government is designed to be run by citizen legislators,” Maness said.
Social Security was a contentious topic in the debate, with Landrieu saying her stance on the issue differentiated her the most from Cassidy.
At the last debate attended by all three candidates, Cassidy proposed raising the Social Security age to 70 — a position the Landrieu campaign has taken advantage of in recent weeks.
As Cassidy responded to a question about Social Security benefits, Landrieu grinned broadly.
Landrieu suggested his policy was unrealistic, telling Cassidy the average life expectancy of African-American in Madison Parish is 70.
“It’s a very different path,” Landrieu said. “I will not vote to raise the social security age to 70.”
Maness, when honed in on by the moderator, failed to provide a plan to alter Social Security and said there is still time to fix the broken system.
“What is his plan?” a laughing Landrieu said halfway through his response.
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s refusal to accept federal Medicaid funds for the state created a debacle amongst the candidates.
Both Cassidy and Maness agreed with Jindal’s refusal.
With LSU President F. King Alexander sitting in the front row, Cassidy said to “ask a university president if he wants his budget cut even more” because state funds are going to Medicaid.
“Medicaid is the illusion of coverage without the power of access,” Cassidy said.
Landrieu called Cassidy’s stance hypocritical.
“Bill Cassidy is a doctor that has been paid a salary from Medicaid,” Landrieu said.
The next question, dealing with Ebola quarantines, also left plenty of fodder for the candidates to use against one another.
Landrieu said she supported a 21-day quarantine for potential Ebola victims and called out Cassidy for voting to cut funding to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“You know, Bill, you can’t have it both ways,” Landrieu said.
Maness criticized the CDC, calling their operations incompetent and results off base.
“No more of this ‘I’m a doctor, I’m a scientist’ arrogance,” Maness said.
Cassidy and Maness used a question about income disparity and the African-American community to segue into Obamacare opposition.
Under the “Obama, Landrieu economy,” Cassidy said more have gone on food stamps than hired for jobs.
Landrieu said economic inequality was partly due to racism and mentioned Cassidy and Maness do not support equal pay for women.
“Of course we support equal pay for women,” Maness said, charging Landrieu with paying females on her staff less than male counterparts.
In the candidates’ closing remarks, Landrieu said a vote for Maness elects “one more voice for the Tea Party in Washington,” and referenced Cassidy’s absence in past debates.
“I’m glad he showed up to talk about his very harmful record for the state,” Landrieu said.
Maness said he was “galvanized by God” in his campaign, and quoted Col. Nathan Jessup — Jack Nicholson’s character from A Few Good Men.
Cassidy warned of Landrieu’s damaging, partisan record in Washington, and urged voters to elect him “if you want a senator who’s going to stand up to Barack Obama.”
Bill Cassidy, Rob Maness and Mary Landrieu face off in the last US senate candidate debate Wednesday October 29, 2014 in the Holliday Forum.
