NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu may be a member of the dominant party in Washington, but she said Wednesday that won’t change her centrist philosophy or ease her battles to bring aid to Louisiana, calling it “business as usual.”Landrieu is a moderate senator who votes regularly with both Republicans and Democrats, and she said that role will continue to be a tightrope walk now that the Democrats have taken the White House and have reached such a large majority in Congress.”Regardless of whether I serve in a Republican-dominated Congress or a Democratic-dominated Congress, my challenges are just about the same because there are not many of us in the center in any case,” Landrieu said. “It really to me, it’s like it’s a big deal to everyone else. For me, it’s like business as usual because there are only a group of us who are in the center no matter who’s in charge, and the pressures are basically the same.”She added, however, that she believes Democratic President-elect Barack Obama will be better for Louisiana than Republican President George Bush has been, particularly since hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005. Landrieu has been critical of the type of relief aid granted to Louisiana and the bureaucratic hurdles required to use it under the Bush presidency.Landrieu, 52, won re-election to a third term Tuesday night, defeating Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy and ruining national GOP hopes of picking up a Senate seat.She said her focus will be on coastal restoration efforts, aid for Louisiana’s hurricane-damaged farmers and a new energy policy for the nation.Landrieu picked up 52 percent of the vote, compared with 46 percent for Kennedy. Her re-election fell short of the double-digit margin of victory predicted in independent polls, but marked a significant improvement for a senator who has never won easily. Landrieu took the open seat in 1996 by fewer than 5,800 votes and retained it six years later by 42,000 votes. This time, she won by more than 100,000 votes.Republicans thought they could oust Landrieu after Hurricane Katrina scattered the population of her New Orleans base of support, but the incumbent senator capitalized on voter enthusiasm for Democrat Barack Obama and also picked up backing from moderate voters who supported Republican John McCain for the presidency.”Two years ago, the pundits said, ‘She’s not going to be able to do it. She’s not going to be able to win again’ because there was what they called a ‘Katrina effect’ … but the fact is there was an opposite effect. People came back, and we came together,” Landrieu said.Kennedy was making his second bid for the seat, his first as a Republican. He congratulated Landrieu and pledged to work with her.”I extended to her my commitment to work with her every single day to make Louisiana as good as it can be, to try to solve the problems that moms and dads worry about when they lie down at night and can’t sleep,” he said in Baton Rouge.The race was one of the nation’s most expensive Senate contests, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics’ Web site OpenSecrets.org. The candidates — and third-party groups supporting them — launched repeated TV attack ads that accused both Landrieu and Kennedy of pay-for-play politics, incompetence and lies about their records and positions.At a polling place in New Orleans, Robert “Bobby” Ramirez said he didn’t like Landrieu much but couldn’t vote for someone who changed parties in midterm. “That’s reprehensible,” he said.Landrieu made Kennedy’s party switch a major issue, labeling him an opportunist who changed positions to gain a higher political post. Kennedy changed parties last year after being wooed by then-White House political strategist Karl Rove and other Republican leaders.In 2004, Kennedy ran as a left-leaning Democrat who backed John Kerry for president, criticizing President Bush’s tax cuts. He lost to Republican David Vitter. Kennedy said party affiliation was never important to him and talked of his fiscal conservatism over the years.Some McCain voters decided to cast a ballot for the Democrat.McCain supporter Patti Guidroz, 53, said Landrieu’s experience was a big plus.”Not that I like her,” said Guidroz, who teaches high school in Jefferson Parish. “But I think she can do more for the state than the other fellow.”——Contact The Daily Reveille news staff at [email protected]