Many of us will be making important decisions about the future of our country on Nov. 4.  Those who have taken advantage of early voting already have. But the 2008 presidential election isn’t the only item on the ballot. There are various congressional races and a senatorial race that will be decided on Nov. 4. Here, in Louisiana’s 6th district, incumbent Democratic Rep. Don Cazayoux is defending his seat against Republican challenger Bill Cassidy and independent — Democratic leaning — candidate Michael Jackson. Cassidy, though, has chosen to “nationalize” the congressional race — linking his opponents to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama. It’s not unusual for local candidates to nationalize local elections, but it is an unhelpful tactic. It does not help local voters — including University students —     substantively decide an election that will directly affect them.  On Second Amendment rights, for example, Cassidy’s site claims, “the NRA is spending more that $10 million to defeat Obama, but Cazayoux has endorsed Obama for President.”Cassidy goes on to reason Cazayoux only pretends to support the right to bear arms, and Cazayoux clearly abandons that right because he has endorsed Obama for president.What Cassidy fails to mention is that the NRA has endorsed Cazayoux, and both candidates received an “A” rating from the NRA. In an ad titled “3 candidates,” Cassidy accuses his opponents of having “very liberal records,” as evidenced by their support for Obama.Cazayoux does support Obama — That part of Cassidy’s claim is not misleading. It is deceptive, though, for Cassidy to link Cazayoux’s      support into specific policy positions. Cazayoux’s support is one of necessity. As a member of the Democratic Party, he is expected to support his party’s nominee. If Cazayoux chose not to endorse Obama, his influence in the House of Representatives would diminish and reduce our district’s influence. It’s an endorsement of practicality and necessity, not a stamp of approval on all of Obama’s policy proposals. Cassidy seeks to use this endorsement as a way to correlate the two men into the same candidate — A vote for Cazayoux is a vote for Obama. Given our state’s relatively conservative tradition, this is not an entirely foolish tactic. But it is a misleading one. This is not an endorsement of Cazayoux’s candidacy or a repudiation of Cassidy’s character. If the situation were reversed, Cazayoux’s campaign — in all likelihood — would do the same thing. Deception is not unusual to find in campaigns. This is simply a view of reality: Cazayoux is a conservative Democrat. He has plans to join the Blue Dog Democrats, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats in Congress.  To nationalize this race — using candidates’ political parties and relatively weak party associations against them — is intellectually lazy, and it avoids serious debate about serious issues. For better or worse, Cazayoux is not a clone of Obama, and Cassidy isn’t a disciple of Sen. John McCain. Voting for either one is not a referendum on their parties’ respective candidates. For the short remainder of this race, stick to the individual man, and stick to his policies.   —-Contact the Editorial Board at [email protected]