Louisiana gubernatorial candidate John Bel Edwards would not say whether he think Barack Obama is a good president when confronted on the subject by an America Rising tracker.
Red-state Democrats abandoning an unpopular Obama was a consistent theme in 2014, with candidates often remaining silent on the question of whether they voted for Obama and scrambling to say Obama was "not on the ballot" in their races. It did not work, as Republicans romped to a landslide in the midterms and retook control of the U.S. Senate for the first time in nearly a decade.
Obama's approval rating is more than 20 points underwater with Louisiana residents.
Edwards and Republican Sen. David Vitter are facing each other in a runoff election Nov. 21, where the winner will succeed two-term Gov. Bobby Jindal. Edwards has drawn fire for a recent advertisement targeting Vitter as preferring "prostitutes over patriots."
"The choice for Louisiana governor could not be more clear. John Bel Edwards, who answered our country's call and served as a ranger in the 82nd Airborne Division, or David Vitter, who answered a prostitute's call minutes after he skipped a vote honoring 28 soldiers who gave their lives in defense of our freedom. David Vitter chose prostitutes over patriots," the ad from state Rep. John Bel Edwards' campaign says.
Edwards and his campaign allege that U.S. Sen. David Vitter skipped a vote so he could return a call to an escort service. Business Insider called it "the mother of all attack ads," and it might very well be.
Both sides in the governor's race tell WDSU veterans have reached out to them with very different takes on the content of the ad.
Mary-Patricia Wray, spokesperson for Edwards, said a group of veterans wrote to Vitter upset that the senator is accused of skipping a vote that was important to veterans.
Monday morning, it was reported that Edwards would remove Arlington National Cemetery footage from the ad.