1. Every voter has to decide their priorities. Obviously some feel it's better to vote on issues of abortion or gay marriage than the economy, so "better" is a relative term. People need to weigh what that affects them. Landrieu may be able to bring home more bacon in the short term, but does that outweigh the impacts of being a deciding vote on legislation like Obamacare or supporting Dem appointments like Debo Adegbile or Supreme Court Justices who could profoundly impact our nation? Voters, especially R and Independent voters need to make that decision for themselves.

2. Landrieu is current chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and became so early 2014 and will remain if the Dems keep the Senate. Seniority is obviously important but if the Dems lose the majority she will be the highest ranking Dem and not chair. I can opine about the significance of this at another time.

3. I would say it's wrong to state Cassidy would not be on the committee, especially since it appears to be Landrieu's sole talking point. Committee assignments are given by party leadership. It would be in the R's best interest to assure Cassidy a seat on the committee, though eh won't be chair. IT should be noted that Vitter would be chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee if the R's get majority.

4. Congress didn't do a whole lot with the BP settlement money, it was divided fairly evenly by coastline for the affected states. The Justice Department doled up the settlement. Congress passed the RESTORE Act which served as the basis, but IMO it was a lot of players involved including Congress, Feds, States, NGOs, etc. This is a good summary: LINK

5. Regarding flood insurance, I don't get this ML talking point at all. The actual legislation that passed and was supported by everyone is the delegation was the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (H.R. 3370) which was signed into law on 3/22/14. It was called the Grimm-Cassidy version and was passed by the House, Senate, and signed into law by Obama. How that hurts Cassidy, I simply don't get. Here is Landrieu's vote for HR 3370. LINK

This post was edited on 5/12/14 at 8:58 am