Louisiana's Lightning

By Karen Tumulty Sunday, Oct. 20, 2002
    • Remember Florida in 2000? This year there may be another election overtime in a swampy state. Louisiana's unusual election system has been in place for federal races since 1978. Nine candidates — at least three of them credible G.O.P. challengers — are running against Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu. If no one gets at least 50% of the vote on Nov. 5, the race goes to a Dec. 7 runoff. Some polls have Landrieu slightly below the 50% mark, although her campaign says its polling shows her slightly above that threshold.

    Normally, this might be of only local interest. But this year the Senate is so closely divided that the Louisiana vote might determine which party controls the chamber. Not everyone dreads the prospect of a monthlong political Mardi Gras of party operatives and national reporters traipsing through the state. "With the outcome of the Senate at stake, a December runoff in Louisiana would be the next best thing to the Saints' being in the Super Bowl," exults Republican Congressman Billy Tauzin. (And more likely, given the Saints' NFL history.) "There would be money and madness everywhere."