Mary Landrieu

Mary Landrieu
Senior Senator, Louisiana
In office January 1997–Present
Preceded by	J. Bennett Johnston
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2009)
Personal details
Nationality	american
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Frank Snellings

Mary Loretta Landrieu (born November 23, 1955) is a Democratic United States Senator for the state of Louisiana. She is daughter of former New Orleans mayor Maurice Edwin "Moon" Landrieu and the sister of current Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu. Her voting record has not been as liberal as that of the average Democratic senator; most Louisiana Democrats elected to statewide office tend to be more conservative than the national average.

Mary Landrieu was born in Arlington, Virginia and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1977. She was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, from 1980 to 1988. She then served as Louisiana state treasurer from 1988 to 1996. Landrieu was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1995 gubernatorial race in Louisiana; she finished third in the open primary and thus failed to make the run-off. Mike Foster won the run-off.

Senate career

Landrieu was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, defeating Woody Jenkins, and narrowly won reelection in 2002, defeating Suzanne Haik Terrell. Some experts and pundits considered Landrieu to be a possible running mate for presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 election before Senator Kerry's selection of John Edwards. With the departure of John Breaux from the Senate in December 2004, his seat being taken by David Vitter, Landrieu has become Louisiana's senior Senator.

Gang of 14

On May 23, 2005, Landrieu was among the Gang of 14, the group of moderate senators who forged a compromise on the use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called nuclear option over the organized filibustering by Senate Democrats of judicial nominees in the US Senate. Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate.

Landrieu is one of the more conservative members of the Democratic Party. She supports eliminating the estate tax permanently, and voted for the tax cut passed in 2001. On November 17, 2005, she was one of only four Democrats to vote against repealing the the portions of the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 that more liberal Democrats charge unfairly benefit the wealthy. She voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. In 2004, Landrieu was one of only six Democrats to vote against renewing the ban on assault weapons. She has been one of the few Democrats to support drilling in ANWR.

Her voting on President Bush's Supreme Court nominees have shifted toward the right also. She backed Justice John G. Roberts and has showed signed of supporting Samuel Alito. Although she has not openly supported him, she has signaled that she would vote to issue cloture if the Democrats push to filibuster the federal judge.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina destroyed Sen. Landrieu's lakeside New Orleans home. The senator has become a national spokeswoman for victims of the hurricane and has complained of "the staggering incompetence of the national government." In an interview with Chris Wallace, Landrieu called the evacuation of New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina "the best evacuation." She also commented that "Most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day."

Shortyly after the aftermath of the hurricane, Landrieu was involved in a testy exchange with Anderson Cooper of CNN in which she praised President Bush and the Senate for responding to Katrina and appropriating money for the effort. To which Cooper responded: "Excuse me, Senator, I'm sorry for interrupting. I haven't heard that, because, for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated." After this exchange, Landrieu began to criticize President Bush very harshly for his response to Katrina in subsequent interviews.

Critics have been harsh of Louisiana representatives over the state's handling of the Katrina crisis. However, FEMA contracted with Innovative Emergency Management for the now-infamous "Hurricane Pam" exercise which predicted a 70% evacuation rate in New Orleans. State officials ended up coordinating the evacuation of 80% of the city, far exceeding professionally-projected figures and reaffirming the truth in Landrieu's claim that New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina evacuation efforts were one of the most successful evacuation plans executed in the history of the United States.

Overall Senate appeal

According to Mary L. Landrieu's official website [1],

Mary L. Landrieu has been referred to as "one of the Senate's foremost leaders on education" by her colleagues in the Senate. One Louisiana publication dubbed her "Military Mary" for her dedication to our armed services and her knowledge of defense issues. She has become a national voice on the importance of strengthening families through foster care and adoption. She is the state's senior senator, and a fiscal leader for the nation as a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. She is a working mother, each day balancing the joys of family life with the responsibilities of being a U.S. Senator.

External links

• Official website
• Congressional biography
• About.com Profile of US Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
• CNN Transcripts