Louisiana

On Wednesday afternoon, Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy offered his theory as to why aliens have not yet made contact with human civilization.

The Republican tax overhaul significantly undoes the Affordable Care Act by removing the individual mandate to purchase health insurance. Next, the GOP House has their sights on Medicaid reform.

Three GOP members of Louisiana's congressional delegation are being accused of hypocrisy for advocating a federal disaster declaration in their home state. But there's nothing to the charge when considering how they've approached other relief efforts in the past.

A year ago, the Louisiana Democratic party seemed as dead as its allegedly habitual voters from New Orleans cemeteries. Yet with a governor’s race quickening to its November 21 conclusion, Republican senator David Vitter is proving the Democrats’ greatest necromancer.

Democrat John Bel Edwards and Republican David Vitter will face off in the November 21 runoff for governor of Louisiana. Edwards and Vitter were the top two vote-getters in Saturday's jungle primary.

The problems just keep stacking up for Louisiana Republican David Vitter as he battles to stay alive in what's become a contentious race for governor. The two-term U.S. senator has been dogged by new allegations surrounding his use of prostitutes in New Orleans and Washington, D.C.

For a while, it looked as if Republican senator David Vitter had a better-than-good shot at winning the 2015 governor’s race in Louisiana. For several months since last December, Vitter had led in the polls against the Democrat and two Republicans also running in the state’s open primary, which is…

When is a tax break really just government spending? When it's a "refundable tax credit."

Atchafalaya Basin, La.

Editor's note: "[F]our-time former governor and ex-convict Edwin Edwards -- a Louisiana icon, both beloved and reviled -- has lost his first, and likely last, political race at the ballot box," the Times-Picayune reports. We're reprinting this article on Edwards's attempted comeback, which…

The Associated Press has called the Louisiana Senate race for Republican Bill Cassidy. "BREAKING: Cassidy defeats Landrieu in Louisiana Senate race, bolstering GOP majority in new Senate," the AP tweets.

Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican Bill Cassidy will continue their race for the U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana in a December runoff, NBC News projects. Cassidy, a congressman from Baton Rouge, leads the incumbent Landrieu, but neither candidate will earn 50 percent of the vote. Under Louisiana's…

Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu told NBC's Chuck Todd that she has had to work harder for her reelection to the U.S. Senate because the South has "not always been the friendliest place for African Americans."

Entering the final fortnight of the Senate races, something of a pattern has started to develop. Republicans are leading in the Real Clear Politics average of recent polling in all states that were to the right of the national average in the 2012 election (which President Obama won by 4 points),…

Republican Elbert Guillory, a state senator in Louisiana, has released a new web video through his Free At Last PAC that criticizes Democratic senator Mary Landrieu's record.

Democratic senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana lists her parents' New Orleans address as her primary residence for voting purposes. But it's clear she and her husband consider their primary residence to be their multimillion-dollar home on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. These revelations have…

The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker reported last week that Senator Mary Landrieu, currently fighting for her seat in a tough reelection bid, may not actually reside in Louisiana. In January, she told the Federal Election Commission she lives in Washington, D.C. But she claimed her parents’ address…

Democratic senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is already in the electoral battle of her life this November. Her national party is far out of step with Louisiana voters on health care, abortion, and energy issues, and the national mood is continuing to shift against the Democrats. And the leader of…

The Washington Post reports that Democratic senator Mary Landrieu doesn't own a home in her state of Louisiana, instead listing her residence on federal election forms as either a mansion she owns in Washington, D.C. or her parents' home in New Orleans. Landrieu, who is facing a tough reelection…

Gonzales, La.

Republicans have distinct advantages in Senate races this year, including President Obama’s low job ratings, the number of vulnerable Democrats, and an unhappy national mood. But there’s another advantage: the generally high quality of their candidates. This wasn’t the case in 2010 and 2012, when…

The Arkansas Senate race has been close in virtually every serious poll. The Republican challenger, Tom Cotton, probably had a small lead a month or so ago; after a massive negative assault on him by Harry Reid's Super PAC, the Democratic incumbent, Mark Pryor, is probably now ahead by a point or…

Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor has a 10-point lead in his race to retain his Senate seat, according to a new poll from the New York Times and the Kaiser Family Foundation. A two-term senator, Pryor has 46 percent support, while his challenger, Republican congressman Tom Cotton, has 36 percent…

Democratic senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is in a tough reelection battle because of her support for Obamacare. So its not surprising her latest TV ad focuses on the one high-profile fight she's had with the Obama administration, over oil and gas exploration. The 60-second spot features people…

What do Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia have in common? For one, none has a city larger than 400,000 people. For another, they all voted for John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. For yet another, they are the most likely places for Republicans to pick up…

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal released a health care proposal Wednesday aiming to repeal and replace Obamacare with a conservative alternative.

Americans for Prosperity has two new ads running in Colorado and Louisiana knocking those state's Democratic senators, Mark Udall and Mary Landrieu, respectively, for their support for Obamacare. The ads, which are a version of earlier AFP ads targeting Democratic House members, feature a woman…

A new TV ad running in Louisiana from Americans for Prosperity focuses on how the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, has negatively affected citizens' lives. Democratic senator Mary Landrieu, who voted for Obamacare in 2010, is up for reelection in Louisiana this year.

Republican congressman Bill Cassidy leads incumbent Democratic senator Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll.

In November, the Obama Justice Department dropped a lawsuit aimed at stopping a school voucher program in Louisiana. The Louisiana Scholarship Program is intended to give students in failing public schools a chance to attend better schools, including private ones. Justice tried to block the program…

A free-market group has launched television ads in three states whose Democratic senators are up for reelection this year, targeting those senators for their support for Obamacare.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal criticized the suspension of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson by network A&E.

The Obama administration's Justice Department has dropped a lawsuit aiming to stop a school voucher program in the state of Louisiana. A ruling Friday by a United States district court judge revealed that the federal government has "abandoned" its pursuit of an injunction against the Louisiana…

Colonel Rob Maness, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Louisiana, is asking any and all 80,000 Louisianans who are expected to lose their health insurance due to Obamacare regulations to email his campaign with their stories.

Senator Mary Landrieu, the Democrat from Louisiana, has introduced a bill called the "Keeping the Affordable Care Act Promise Act." The bill recognizes that Americans are losing their individual health plans because they don't conform to the new regulations under the Affordable Care Act, better…

Senator Mary Landrieu, Democrat from Louisiana, tells Politico's Manu Raju that she'd be interested in supporting a proposal to allow Americans who like their current health insurance plan to keep it for next year. Here's the story from Politico:

In December 2009, Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu assured Americans that the Obamacare legislation being debated in Congress would not affect those who like their plans. Watch the video of her speech on the floor of the Senate:

Senator Kay Hagan, a Democrat from North Carolina who is up for reelection in 2014, says she supports delaying the deadline for signing up for health insurance under Obamacare's individual mandate. Hagan, who voted for Obamacare back in 2010, also says the fine for not signing up for health…

An organization representing Louisiana parents shouldn't be allowed to intervene in a federal lawsuit against the state's school voucher program, the Department of Justice said in a response to a motion requesting legal intervention. The Louisiana chapter of the Black Alliance for Educational…

Louisana governor Bobby Jindal, the two-term Republican and potential presidential candidate, has announced the formation of a new group called America Next. The organization bills itself as a "conservative policy group" that aims to "focus on winning a war of ideas." Here's an excerpt from a…

New polls of likely voters in three key states in next year's U.S. Senate election show Republicans running just behind incumbent Democrats. Harper Polling, a firm associated with Republicans and working on behalf of conservative super PAC American Crossroads, conducted surveys of likely voters in…

Bobby Jindal is outraged over a Department of Justice lawsuit against a Louisiana school voucher program. The suit, which he (repeatedly) calls “cynical, immoral, and hypocritical” and the “worst misuse” of federal desegregation laws, aims to stop a program that allows poor students in failing…

New Orleans

High costs and low-quality care have defined the state of Louisiana's system of charity hospitals, established during the Huey Long era to serve the medical needs of low-income citizens. Now, as the Associated Press's Melinda Deslatte reports, Republican governor Bobby Jindal is making the case…

Baton Rouge

Senator Mary Landrieu, a Democrat from Louisiana, is making the case that some "cyber" jobs need to be moved away from the Washington, D.C. area -- and to Louisiana, where those people might be physically safer.

Baton Rouge, La.

A new poll commissioned for the National Republican Senatorial Campaign finds voters in Louisiana are overwhelmingly opposed to Obamacare. In the survey of 600 voters, 62 percent say they oppose the health care law, including 53 percent who say they strongly oppose it. Only 33 percent support…

Republican state senator Elbert Guillory of Louisiana, who recently switched from the Democratic party, has announced the creation of a new political action committee with the goal of electing black conservatives. Guillory will serve as honorary chairman of Free At Last PAC, which purports to…

The AP reports that:

The great thing about this account of the artists and intellectuals in and around New Orleans’s French Quarter during the 1920s is that it upends nearly every assumption commonly made about the American South—even the true ones. The early-20th-century South may have produced the odd isolated…

Earlier this week, Louisiana legislator Karen Carter Peterson called Obamacare critics racist:

Louisiana state senator Karen Carter Peterson said today that Obamacare critics are inspired by the race of the president of the United States, Barack Obama:

A Louisiana high school is in "chaos" after 57 teachers skipped school to protest the governor in Baton Rouge. The problem is that there were not enough substitute teachers to replace those who decided to protest the Republican governor, Bobby Jindal.

Republican congressman Bill Cassidy will run for Senate in Louisiana in 2014, the Associated Press reports. Cassidy will be the first major GOP candidate to enter the race to challenge sitting Democrat Mary Landrieu. The AP has more:

Jay Dardenne, Louisiana's Republican lieutenant governor, says he won't be running for the Senate against Democrat Mary Landrieu next year.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal introduced his plan to eliminate income taxes, his office announced. 

Louisiana’s showing up a lot on cable TV these days. There’s the History Channel’s Swamp People, a hit series documenting the lives of Cajun alligator hunters in the swamps of coastal Louisiana. Over on A&E, you can watch Duck Dynasty, which features a self-professed family of rednecks who turned…

Democratic senator Mary Landrieu said on the Senate floor that Washington's spending problem exists only on Fox News:

In a sharply worded letter to Chuck Hagel, President Obama's nominee to be the next secretary of defense, Senator David Vitter of Louisiana takes issue with Hagel's past statement that “The Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here…. I’m not an Israeli senator. I’m a United States senator.”…

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, wants to reform his state's tax code. Jindal announced today that his "goal is to eliminate all personal income tax and all corporate income tax."

As the Cajun primary in south Louisiana rages on, observers continue to describe the race between Congressmen Jeff Landry and Congressman Charles Boustany as a typical Tea Party versus establishment Republican race. But it isn’t. 

Lafayette, La.

The Obama administration announced today plans for lease sales for "available all unleased areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, including 7,276 blocks on about 38.6 million acres," according to a Department of Interior press release.

Governor Bobby Jindal brings hope and change to the education system in Louisiana. The AP reports: 

The American Press of Louisiana reports:

Rick Santorum’s 22-point margin of victory in yesterday’s Louisiana primary was the 2nd-largest in any GOP primary this year — and was the largest outside of any candidate’s home state. Santorum received 49 percent of the vote in the Bayou State, equaling the combined tallies of Mitt Romney (27…

Rick Santorum is projected to win today's Louisiana Republican presidential primary, according to CNN. Currently, only 4 percent of precincts reporting, and Santorum has 40 percent of the vote, Mitt Romney 30 percent, Newt Gingrich 22 percent, and Ron Paul 5 percent.

Louisiana Poll: "Santorum 42, Romney 28, Gingrich 18, Paul 8."

The latest Rasmussen poll of likely GOP primary voters, taken the day after Mitt Romney’s win in Illinois, shows Rick Santorum with a 12-point lead over Romney in Louisiana (43 to 31 percent). If Santorum’s lead holds up, it will continue the trend of Romney winning Democratic-leaning states,…

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is moving ahead with education reform--but it isn't without controversy.

WWL-TV reports on its latest poll of Louisiana Republican voters:

A judge that President Obama nominated for a district court bench “has thrown out a Louisiana law that bans certain sex offenders from Facebook and other social networking sites,” WDSU reports. “U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson ruled Thursday that the prohibition—which took effect in August—was…

Incumbent Republican governor Bobby Jindal was reelected yesterday in Louisiana's blanket primary election. Jindal, who received 65 percent of the vote against 9 other opponents, won a clear majority and therefore will not face a runoff. Jindal carried all 64 parishes and made big gains in Cajun…