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Ellison's Must Read of the Day

November 12, 2014

My must read of the day is "APNewsBreak: GOP promises Cassidy a committee seat," in the Associated Press:

Landrieu has repeatedly touted the importance of her seat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in her campaign for a fourth term representing a state with a robust oil and gas industry.

While she will no longer serve as the committee's chair in the GOP-led Senate in the next Congress, Landrieu has campaigned hard on her place as the committee's senior Democrat — and Cassidy's inability to get a seat on the panel as a freshman senator.

"The question is, do you want somebody on the committee or do you want a rookie that has no seniority and is likely to not even get on the committee," Landrieu said as she kicked off her runoff campaign.

But incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement released to The Associated Press that he will appoint Cassidy to the committee should Cassidy win his Dec. 6 runoff election against Landrieu.

"I'm confident Dr. Cassidy will use this position to succeed where Sen. Landrieu failed," McConnell said in a statement touting Cassidy's support for the Keystone XL pipeline and opposition to Obama administration efforts to place new restrictions on carbon emissions.

This announcement is significant and incredibly wise on the part of Republicans. Landrieu’s position as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has been a focal point of her campaign. She will not be the chairman come January, and promising a committee spot for Cassidy in a lot of ways cancels out Landrieu’s primary selling point.

The only way Democrats seem to be able to counter this is by holding a vote, during the lame duck session, on the pipeline. Reportedly, that’s exactly what they’re considering, but unless President Obama also approves it, it isn’t going to do much to strengthen her argument.

Much of Landrieu’s campaign has centered on emphasizing her position on the committee and her ability to use the power of that position to influence energy policies in a manner that benefits Louisianans. That argument ran into trouble when numerous efforts failed to get Senate Democrats and administration officials on board with completing the project. Unless she can convince them all to come around, a vote among Senate Democrats isn’t particularly impressive.

The vote would be for show, and it feeds into another problematic narrative that bubbled up after Landrieu ran an ad that reenacted a committee hearing—that she is a fake who has no real power to influence energy policies.

Landrieu is in a tough spot in this runoff, and McConnell has found a way to put her in an even tougher one.