Landrieu playing defense on energy

Sen. Mary Landrieu is facing a string of GOP attacks on energy policy despite her staunchly pro-drilling record.

The Republican Party sees high gas prices as a defining issue this election, since most Democrats oppose expanded oil drilling at a time when voters are paying $4 a gallon.

{mosads}Landrieu would seem immune from such criticism. She has repeatedly voted to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and in 2006 led a successful push to open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling and direct billions of dollars of royalties to coastal restoration.

Last year, she angered Senate Democratic leaders by refusing to give them their 60th vote to advance a package that would repeal tax breaks for the oil industry and invest them in alternative sources of energy. In June, she voted against advancing a Democratic energy bill that would have imposed a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

But the Louisiana Senate race represents the one serious shot Republicans have at picking up a Democratic seat this fall. So her Republican opponent, John Kennedy, is forcing her to play defense on the issue.

 Kennedy, who is the state treasurer, has focused attention on her two votes that he characterizes as backing the Democratic majority’s resistance to expanded drilling. He also lampooned a bipartisan energy bill she co-authored last week.

“This is about taking real action, right now,” said Kyle Plotkin, a spokesman for Kennedy. “And when it counted, with gas at $4 a gallon, Mary Landrieu blocked two opportunities to reduce pain at the pump and solve a crisis that is dragging down our economy.”

Landrieu’s campaign says Kennedy is ignoring her record.

“A trip to www.senate.gov would show that Sen. Landrieu voted to restrict oil speculation, which experts have said is responsible for as much as 50 percent of recent increases in gas prices,” said Scott Schneider, her campaign spokesman.

“She is well known down here for being pro-drilling,” he said.

The attack is in line with Republican efforts to reinforce her ties to the Democratic Party, which has fallen on hard times in the Bayou State. President Bush trounced his Democratic opponents in 2000 and 2004, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was leading Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) by 19 points in a Rasmussen poll last month. This is the state’s first Senate election since Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans in 2005 and forced a slew of Democratic voters out of Louisiana.

All of this creates a tough environment for Landrieu, who has a single-digit lead in most statewide polls. She had $5.5 million in cash on hand through the end of June, compared to Kennedy’s $2.7 million, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The swing votes for Landrieu and Kennedy will probably be the 1.3 million non-blacks who are not registered Republicans, said Greg Rigamer, head of the consulting firm G.C.R. & Associates.

That means Landrieu will likely have to play down her partisan ties to keep her seat, analysts say.

Landrieu instead is campaigning on her clout, and has released two televised ads pointing to the billions of dollars she has steered to the state and her bipartisan work on energy issues. She released the first attack ad of the season Tuesday, trying to portray Kennedy, a former Democrat, as a liberal who had supported Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) for president in 2004.

Landrieu seems to be keeping her distance from Obama by denying reports that she was organizing a fundraiser for him. She plans only to attend a portion of the Democratic National Convention later this month.

Republicans sense she is sensitive to being lumped together with her party, especially on energy, and are eager to point out her recent votes and her more liberal positions.

In July, Landrieu provided the decisive vote in the Appropriations Committee against a GOP amendment to lift a ban on mining and processing oil shale in the Western United States. Landrieu said she wanted to seek a compromise between Colorado’s two senators ­— Democrat Ken Salazar, who opposes lifting the ban, and Wayne Allard (R), who authored the amendment.

Kennedy says that Landrieu is more willing to side with Salazar than voters suffering from high gas prices. Landrieu does not support lifting the ban on oil shale production until there are more commercially viable ways to extract the fuel.

The attacks intensified late last month when she voted with her party to limit amendments on a bill to crack down on oil speculators, who some experts blame for driving up gas prices. Even though no vote was scheduled on a drilling amendment and Landrieu supports repealing the offshore drilling ban, Kennedy is characterizing her procedural vote as a de facto vote against drilling since the GOP wanted to offer amendments boosting oil supplies.

Next month’s consideration of a continuing resolution (CR), which would keep the government operating and maintain the congressional ban on offshore drilling, could put her in a jam.

Landrieu said she wasn’t “even going to speculate on the CR right now because I think it’s important for us to stay focused on this effort regarding energy,” referring to a bill offered last week by five members from each party that would lift part of the offshore drilling ban.

Kennedy derided that bipartisan bill as “more talk, no action.”