| Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty December 1, 2014 Louisiana’s Early Vote Looks Particularly Ominous for Mary Landrieu This coming Saturday, Louisianans close the book on the 2014 Senate races with their run-off election between incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican representative Bill Cassidy. This morning Freedom Partners Action Fund launches a new ad, a portion of the original $2.1 million in ad time the group reserved early. The ad features two Louisiana residents, John Humphreys and Diana Lennon: 
John Humphreys: You know, there’s lots of reasons Senator Mary Landrieu hasn't earned six more years. Diana Lennon: She's been in Washington so long she calls it home. Humphreys: Washington's war on oil and gas, Obamacare and wasteful spending . . . Lennon: She's part of the problem. Humphreys: This may be the most important vote that you ever make for Louisiana and the country. Lennon: A vote for Mary Landrieu is a vote for President Obama and his failed liberal policies. Humphreys: Let’s put Louisiana first. Lennon: Vote Bill Cassidy. Announcer: Freedom Partners Action Fund is responsible for the content of this advertising. Elsewhere, Conservative War Chest’s commercial, hitting President Obama for treating the results of the midterm elections as if they don’t count, has more than 130,000 views on YouTube since being posted Friday. The early vote is looking pretty brutal for Landrieu: The number of people who cast their ballots early in Louisiana dropped off from the Nov. 4 primary election to the Dec. 6 runoff election in every statewide category except one: registered Republican voters. About 85,900 registered Republicans took advantage of early voting for the Dec. 6 runoff, which was held during the week leading up Thanksgiving, as well as Saturday. That's almost 3,000 more than the number of people who voted early for the Nov. 4 election, and it amounts to a 4 percent bump in early voting overall from a month ago. The jump in early Republican voters is noteworthy, given that early voting overall dropped by 10 percent from the November primary to the December runoff. The number of registered Democrats who voted early fell even further — about an 18 percent decrease — from the primary to the runoff, according to information provided by the Secretary of State's office. Still, the biggest decline in early voters statewide happened among African Americans, who have typically backed Landrieu. The number of black voters casting early ballots fell by 24 percent from the Nov. 4 election period to the Dec. 6 election period. Democrats have said there was a surge in black voters participating in early voting on the final day it was available, Saturday (Nov. 29). The Landrieu campaign is confident that African Americans will head to the polls this coming Saturday, the official election day and last time voting is available, according to officials. Keep in mind, historically, turnout for Louisiana’s runoff elections hasn’t been much smaller than their November elections. Opinion polling looks similarly brutal for Landrieu, showing her trailing by double digits. There’s no reason for Louisiana Republicans to take their foot off the gas, but chances are a week from now, the GOP will be warmly welcoming the 54th member of their caucus. Media Determined to Spend All of December Discussing Ferguson & Race Today at the White House, President Obama “has three events pegged to alleviating mistrust between law enforcement and ‘communities of color.’” Yesterday on Meet the Press, the boss apparently created quite a stir by saying common-sense thoughts out loud: RICH LOWRY:
What I really object to is you can discuss all these problems, but let's not pretend that this particular incident was something it wasn't. If you look at the most credible evidence, the lessons are really basic. Don't rob a convenience store. Don't fight a policeman when he stops you and try to take his gun. And when he yells at you to stop with his gun drawn, just stop, and none of this would've happened.
(OVERTALK) EUGENE ROBINSON:
— the relitigation — (OVERTALK)
empty EUGENE ROBINSON:
No, there were conflicting testimony on —
(OVERTALK) CHUCK TODD:
So Michael Brown is not Trayvon Martin? EUGENE ROBINSON:
No, no. He's not Trayvon Martin. And neither is Darren Wilson George Zimmerman. CHUCK TODD:
George Zimmerman. Right. EUGENE ROBINSON:
Right. So there are clear differences. You know, we're not in the relitigation business. So we won't go into the whole thing. But there was conflicting testimony, there were witnesses who simply were not believed, who said otherwise. And there were witnesses who were believed who — CHUCK TODD:
And I think that's going to be something--
(OVERTALK) EUGENE ROBINSON:
— that was what happened. RICH LOWRY:
The simple evidence backs up Officer Wilson's version.
(OVERTALK) ANDREA MITCHELL:
One quick point about the polling place. Cities like Baltimore, Maryland, are doing things on diversity of police force that has nothing to do with elected. White officials can diversify their police forces. CHUCK TODD:
All right. We're going to take a pause here. We're going to do more of this, our summit on race in America goes more in depth right after this break. Enough with Our Metronomic Public Demonization Campaigns I think I’ve interacted with Elizabeth Lauten once or twice. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, she wrote something intemperate and ill-considered about the Obama daughters on her Facebook page. She’s apologized; nonetheless, people are still signing a petition demanding her boss, Representative Stephen Lee Fincher, (R., Tenn.), fire her. If writing something intemperate and ill-considered on Facebook was a universally-applied firing offense, the national unemployment rate would be what, 90 percent? Needless to say, Ruth Marcus -- who thought my tweet about Jeb Bush was a “pathetic commentary on the state of civil discourse in 2013” — had to write at length on it. God help anyone who does something controversial during a slow news week or a holiday, when columnists need something to bang out quickly. Question: If a GOP staffer writes something excessively snarky or snide about the Obama daughters . . . what’s the harm? Who’s harmed? How? I see one overwrought declaration that the Facebook post was “nothing short of bullying.” Really? What are the odds that the Obama daughters even saw the post? They live in a world where their father, like all presidents, must live with 24-7 protection staffed by men who pledge to jump in front of a bullet in order to save his life. They, like their father, travel in a bulletproof, armored limousine everywhere and every building they enter must be secured. I’m sure the Secret Service deals with all sorts of threats from all sorts of sources, from the random nut who claims his dog is talking to him to al-Qaeda. I really have a hard time believing that a Facebook post of a little-known GOP Hill staffer is anywhere near one of their preeminent concerns in life. The Obama daughters will survive a critical, mean, or snide Facebook post. They will go on with life at Sidwell Friends and flying on dad’s plane and living in the finest taxpayer-provided housing the United States has to offer and on to Ivy League colleges and happy careers and lives of their own. ADDENDA: It’s Cyber Monday, so you may find some better-than-usual deals on the gift ideas in Friday’s Morning Jolt Shopping Guide and NRO contributors’ list of gift ideas. The boss, yesterday: “I always thought Hagel was brought on basically to be a nonfactor and was admirably performing in that role.”
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