- The Washington Times - Monday, December 1, 2014

The number of Republicans voting early ahead of the Dec. 6 runoff between GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy and Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu increased from last month even as early participation from other groups fell, the New Orleans Times-Picayune said.

About 85,900 registered Republicans voted early — almost 3,000 more than the number of people who voted early before the Nov. 4 election that featured Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Cassidy, and Republican Rob Maness.

Since none of the candidates could eclipse 50 percent of the vote then, Ms. Landrieu and Mr. Cassidy went to a run-off. An expected Cassidy win would give Republicans, who already secured a majority in the U.S. Senate on Election Day, a 54th seat in the chamber.

The paper notes that early voting dropped by more than 10 percent overall and by 18 percent among registered Democrats, though the early voting period for the Dec. 6 runoff was two days shorter than it was for the Nov. 4 election because of Thanksgiving.

Ms. Landrieu and Mr. Cassidy are scheduled to debate Monday evening ahead of the Saturday runoff. Mr. Cassidy leads by double digits in public polling on the race.

The paper also reported that Mr. Cassidy is leading Ms. Landrieu in fundraising, according to recent campaign finance reports.

From Oct. 16 to Nov. 16, Mr. Cassidy raised about $2.1 million to Ms. Landrieu’s $1.5 million and had about $1.3 million on hand compared to about $780,000 for Ms. Landrieu at the close of that period.

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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