-Caveat Lector- URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15787-2002Dec5.html washingtonpost.com
Landrieu Supporters Raising Cane With Terrell Over Sugar Issue By Ragan Naresh CQ Politics Reporter Thursday, December 5, 2002; 8:20 PM With 10-foot stalks of weatherbeaten sugar cane in their hands and wide-brimmed sombreros on their heads, groups of sugar cane farmers, union workers and Democratic activists have been shadowing Louisiana Republican Suzanne Haik Terrell in the last days of her campaign to unseat Democratic Sen. Mary L. Landrieu. They were on the scene when Terrell's campaign bus arrived in central Louisiana Wednesday night and again when the GOP challenger visited the southwestern Cajun Country center of Lafayette Thursday. The guerrilla theater by Terrell's opponents is part of an effort to reinforce one of Landrieu's key charges as she seeks to stave off defeat in the unusual Dec. 7 Senate runoff: That Terrell's close ties to President Bush -- who has put the full weight of the White House behind her bid -- would actually hurt Louisiana's sugar industry. At issue is a Nov. 20 report in the Mexican newspaper Reforma that a trade agreement to allow a doubling in the amount of sugar Mexico could export to the United States had been struck between Bush and Vicente Fox, the president of Mexico. While the Bush administration contends that no such deal has been finalized, the Landrieu campaign has seized upon the issue. Running on a theme of "Put Louisiana First," Landrieu has been trying to offset the state's conservative lean -- and Republican efforts to paint her as too liberal -- by portraying Terrell as a "rubber stamp" who would be beholden to Bush even when his policies run counter to Louisiana interests. Landrieu has characterized the reported sugar agreement as a backroom deal that the administration purposely sought to withhold from the public until after the election. U.S. sugar prices are almost three times higher than on world markets, in part because imports of raw sugar are limited by law to 1.4 million short tons, including 151,885 tons from Mexico. That benefits sugar cane and sugar beet farmers in states like Louisiana, Florida and Minnesota, but boosts raw material prices for sugar-consuming companies like Coca-Cola Co. and Mars Inc. Terrell has attempted to distance herself from the alleged sugar deal. But some local observers say Landrieu's sugar strategy could help her stall the momentum Terrell appeared to gain when Bush visited the state on her behalf on Tuesday. In raising the issue, Landrieu is going where many Democratic Senate candidates this year feared to tread: testing the popularity of the president, whose all-out campaign blitz helped the Republicans win control of the Senate in the Nov. 5 elections. "She has learned that Bush's 'halo effect' is something she can address directly," said Louisiana State University political scientist T. Wayne Parent. "This turns attention back to Louisiana and away from the power of Bush and the power that Terrell might have because of her association with the president." The runoff was necessitated when Landrieu took less than a majority vote -- 46 percent -- in the state's Nov. 5 primary, forcing her into a second round with state Elections Commissioner Terrell, who had 27 percent. With conservative voters expected to decide the outcome in the runoff, Landrieu is performing a political high-wire act. Maintaining her long-standing claim that she is a Democratic centrist, Landrieu has emphasized that she backed Bush on most Senate votes since he became president. But she says she is an independent voice for Louisiana, and has tried to use Terrell's own words to portray her opponent as a knee-jerk Republican. "[Terrell] bragged that 'Mary Landrieu says she [was] with President Bush 74 percent of the time [in 2001], but we need a senator who will be with the president the other 26 percent of the time,'" Landrieu said. "Unfortunately, [the reported sugar deal] is an example of that other 26." The $2 billion sugar industry in Louisiana is rich in tradition and influence, but has struggled since Hurricane Lili and Tropical Storm Isidore hit the state in the fall and halved the cane harvest. Landrieu is attempting to sway the 30,000 sugar producers and processors -- many of whom lean Republican -- to vote for her. A number of them have decried the sugar trade deal and joined in some of the hastily planned protests. Terrell, though, has indicated that she would not support such a deal, and has repeatedly challenged the claim that she would unequivocally support Bush. She also argues that Landrieu's vocal criticism of the sugar deal is unwarranted since it is a function of the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, enacted under the administration of Democrat Bill Clinton, and is not simply Bush's policy. "[Landrieu] is trying to make it an issue that affects the campaign, but what is important is that people recognize she has been in the Senate for six years, and these issues arose after NAFTA," Terrell said. "For six of these years she has been in the Senate, and she hasn't done anything about it." Terrell, meanwhile, has entered the final stretch of the campaign with a focus on reaching out to the large anti-abortion constituency in the southern half of the state. Already holding an advantage in much of northern Louisiana, which is mostly Protestant and favorable to Republicans, Terrell has toured New Orleans and the heavily Roman Catholic Cajun region to the west. Terrell has gained the endorsements of several notable Catholic figures, including Ray Flynn, the Democratic former mayor of Boston who was ambassador to the Vatican under Clinton. The abortion issue has played a role in a contest that has been personal and negative throughout. Landrieu has questioned Terrell's claim to be anti-abortion, pointing to an invitation to a 1994 Planned Parenthood dinner that listed Terrell as a sponsor. Terrell said she was unaware at the time that she was listed on the invitation, and in turn has accused Landrieu of abandoning her Roman Catholic religion and criticized her for supporting abortion rights. Observers are not surprised at either the harshness or the closeness of the race. Landrieu in 1996 won a bitter open-seat contest over Republican Louis "Woody" Jenkins by fewer than 6,000 votes. But some are surprised at the way in which the candidates have reversed roles in the waning days of the campaign. When the race began, Landrieu was viewed as a Washington insider, while Terrell was the outsider who had never held office beyond Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Since Republicans secured control of the Senate, Terrell has focused on her ties to Bush and the prospect of being more effective as part of the majority than would Landrieu in the minority. Landrieu, meanwhile, has attacked Terrell as too tight with inside-the-Beltway interests. "It is rare to see a flip-flop like this," said LSU's Parent. "But now you've got the Louisiana outsider running as the D.C. insider, and the D.C. insider running like she is the Louisiana outsider." Source: CQ Daily Monitor Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill. ?2002 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved. © 2002 Congressional Quarterly, Inc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; everything sent has to stand on its own merits, not on my recommendation. 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