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The 2002 Louisiana Senatorial election, a close reelection between Incumbent Senator Mary Landrieu and Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell was one of the marquis races in 2002, and one of the few in the south that weren't swept by the GOP.
Originally, the main GOP candidate in the race to try and defeat Landrieu was John Cooksey, however, because of a controvercial remark which he had to spend a substancial ammount of money to defend, he was cut off by the White House and NRSC
In his place came NRSC recruit Suzanne Haik Terrell, whom was thought would be able to beat Landrieu because of her base of support in the New Orleans Area. Moreover, the GOP thought that if they could force Landrieu into a runoff, then—like with Georgia in 1992—they would be able to take her out
The Runoff Campaign funcionally tried to make Landrieu out to be a Liberal, claiming she voted often with NY Senator Hillary Clinton, lived in a Washington DC Mansion and supported higher Taxes—However Landrieu countered by saying she voted with George Bush 72% of the time, third only to Zell Miller and John Breaux
However, she was still held to 46% and—outvoted by GOP candidates—was in trouble, but durring the runoff campaign a stroke of luck hit, a Mexican newspaper broke the story that Bush had agreed to double the amount of Sugar that the US Could import from Mexico
This, considering Louisiana's sugar industry, allowed Terrell's ties to bush to become an anchor around her neck, with Landrieu criticizing Terrell over the issue as her being a rubber stamp to Bush
While the Deal ended up being fake, the damage was done, and in the 2002 9/11 Midterm Elections Landrieu's win was one of the Democrat's successes in what was otherwise a dour midterm.
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