Crowded under a P-40 Warhawk suspended just feet above the audience, a troop of Republican supporters and American veterans sat at attention Monday as Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and David Vitter, R-La., and Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., spoke at the USS KIDD Veterans Memorial Museum in downtown Baton Rouge. 
The event was one of five veterans rallies across the state for Cassidy, doubling as campaign stops in his run for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu. 
With 21 days to go before voters head to the polls in the Nov. 4 midterm elections, the Republican congressmen’s speeches were marked by rhetoric condemning Landrieu and President Barack Obama.
“I am taking on the most powerful man in the world and the senator who supports him 97 percent of the time,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy and Vitter took aim at Landrieu’s self-described “clout” in Washington, a recurring theme in the incumbent senator’s campaign. 
Landrieu has served in the Senate since 1997 and is the chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources.
“Sen. Landrieu thinks that bureaucrats and politicians should control our health care,” Cassidy said. “She has used her clout on behalf of President Obama.”
Cassidy said if he is elected and the Senate goes Republican, McCain would become the chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and Vitter would become the chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Vitter, currently running for Louisiana governor, said voters faced a stark choice in the upcoming Senate election and touted the financing of two Veterans Affairs clinics in Lake Charles and Lafayette. 
Funding for the clinics came through the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014, signed into law by President Obama on Aug. 7.
Vitter said Cassidy and Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., helped the bill pass through the House, but the legislation faced opposition from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Vitter said he asked Landrieu to help change Reid’s mind, but she was unsuccessful. 
“She talks about her effectiveness. She talks about her clout. Well, let’s see it,” Vitter said. 
McCain said Vitter was instrumental in passing the bill through the Senate.
“He is, in many ways, the conscience of the United States Senate,” McCain said.
In attendance at the rally was University doctoral candidate Norm Clark, a former 6th District congressional candidate for the House seat vacated by Cassidy. 
Clark, a Cassidy supporter, said the current “firestorm” surrounding veterans issues is in part due to soldiers who died in vain following President Obama’s troop withdrawal from Iraq, leading to the proliferation of the Islamic State group in the region.
McCain also denounced Obama’s pullback of troops, citing the move as an example of his “feckless leadership.”
Near the end of Cassidy’s address, cries of “Landrieu for Senate” could be heard from the street outside the museum. 
Among Landrieu’s supporters picketing the event was Calvin Fair, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War and 1976 alumnus of the University.
Fair said the majority of veterans legislation was killed in the House where Cassidy serves.
“I think that her record beats his,” Fair said of Landrieu. 
Cassidy and Landrieu are considered the race’s frontrunners, with most polls determining the election too close to call.
According to a September YouGov poll, 47 percent of respondents plan to vote for Cassidy, while 41 percent side with Landrieu in a hypothetical runoff.   
McCain said the state’s voters could determine the balance of party power in the Senate. 
“The eyes of America will be on Louisiana,” McCain said.

Gallery • 11 Photos

Sam Karlin

John McCain (R-Az.) and David Vitter (R-La.) rallied for Bill Cassidy at the USS Kidd Veterans Museum Monday.