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CNN Saturday Morning News
Louisiana Runoff a Dead Heat
Aired December 07, 2002 - 08:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: There is a high stakes battle going on in the Bayou. Today, is the runoff election for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana, the race between incumbent Democratic Mary Landrieu and Republican challenger Suzanne Terrell has been ugly. It's been expensive. Pollsters saying that it appears to be a dead heat.
Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is joining us now from New Orleans -- Candy, what's the latest from there?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're now down to that old political adage, the world's going to belong to those who show up. And today is voting day. There's a lot of knocking on doors, a lot of phone calls going out.
What the incumbent, Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, needs is a big turnout in her base, and that means the African-American vote in cities like New Orleans. What Susie Terrell will need is a big push from those who are supporting Bush. This is a state where Bush won in 2000. His popularity rating here now is in the 60 percent range. So she has gotten a huge boost all along, first in a visit from President Bush. She also got a visit from President Bush's father, the former president. She has seen Karen Hughes in recent days, the former chief of -- former top Bush aide, also Dick Cheney. So there has been a large cast of characters down here, all with the last name of Bush or working for someone with the last name of Bush.
So this has been a very intense race, both Democrats and Republicans have poured a lot of money into it. And since it is so close, as you mentioned, the ads in particular have been quite intense, as well as very nasty.
Nobody is really sure what's going to happen here. It is December. It is a runoff. Usually in cases like this, turnout is quite low. But Louisiana is a state that loves its politics, so both sides, who have been working very hard on turnout, hope that they can maybe break that trend -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Candy, thank you very much, following the story for us from New Orleans.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 7, 2002 - 08:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: There is a high stakes battle going on in the Bayou. Today, is the runoff election for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana, the race between incumbent Democratic Mary Landrieu and Republican challenger Suzanne Terrell has been ugly. It's been expensive. Pollsters saying that it appears to be a dead heat.
Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is joining us now from New Orleans -- Candy, what's the latest from there?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're now down to that old political adage, the world's going to belong to those who show up. And today is voting day. There's a lot of knocking on doors, a lot of phone calls going out.
What the incumbent, Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, needs is a big turnout in her base, and that means the African-American vote in cities like New Orleans. What Susie Terrell will need is a big push from those who are supporting Bush. This is a state where Bush won in 2000. His popularity rating here now is in the 60 percent range. So she has gotten a huge boost all along, first in a visit from President Bush. She also got a visit from President Bush's father, the former president. She has seen Karen Hughes in recent days, the former chief of -- former top Bush aide, also Dick Cheney. So there has been a large cast of characters down here, all with the last name of Bush or working for someone with the last name of Bush.
So this has been a very intense race, both Democrats and Republicans have poured a lot of money into it. And since it is so close, as you mentioned, the ads in particular have been quite intense, as well as very nasty.
Nobody is really sure what's going to happen here. It is December. It is a runoff. Usually in cases like this, turnout is quite low. But Louisiana is a state that loves its politics, so both sides, who have been working very hard on turnout, hope that they can maybe break that trend -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Candy, thank you very much, following the story for us from New Orleans.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
