Landrieu features father in new ads

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is launching a series of reelection ads featuring her father, former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu, bantering back and forth with her about her work for the state.

In one TV spot, her father declares as he sits side-by-side with the senator: “When you have nine children, you’re bound to have one who’s hard-headed.”

{mosads}“Dad, you’re one to talk,” she admonishes before he brings up the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

“I know how BP felt when Mary fought to get billions for Louisiana,” Moon Landrieu continues, adding, “and when she took on the president to approve the Keystone pipeline.”

Landrieu has been an outspoken supporter of the controversial oil pipeline, one of a handful of red-state Democrats to buck her party and urge the president to approve its construction, but the latest effort to approve the pipeline failed in the Senate this week.

Another vote on the pipeline looks unlikely before November, prompting attacks from Republicans who say the failure reveals that Landrieu’s seniority — a main selling point of her candidacy — isn’t as potent as she claims.

In the ad, Moon Landrieu hits on that seniority as well, warning that, with Landrieu as chairwoman of the Senate Energy Committee, “those other senators better get ready.” His daughter interjects: “Oh, they are.”

Her father closes by stage-whispering to the camera, “And now you know why Putin won’t let her into Russia,” a reference to Landrieu’s appearance on a list of nine U.S. officials subject to Russian reprisal in response to sanctions on the nation imposed by the U.S.

The other ad hits the same tone, with Moon Landrieu touting his daughter’s work helping the state rebuild after Hurricane Katrina and securing royalties from oil and gas companies.

The ads aim to humanize the senator and remind voters of the popular Landrieu dynasty, of which her father is the patriarch.

Moon Landrieu served as mayor of New Orleans for two terms, during which he oversaw the desegregation of public facilities and the government and secured funding to help revitalize the city. He later went on to serve as U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

His son and Sen. Landrieu’s brother, Mitch Landrieu, was reelected mayor of the city this year with more than 63 percent of the vote. He’s expected to help Landrieu get out the vote in New Orleans this fall, as she’ll be relying on support from its large black population to overcome the state’s overall Republican lean.

Landrieu is facing Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and a handful of other Republicans on the ballot in November, and polling has shown her to be one of the most vulnerable Democrats up this cycle.