Cassidy 'would be so honored to be a senator'

Published Oct 17, 2012 at 10:00 am (Updated Oct 17, 2012)

Technically, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, still has an election to win to hang on to his seat in Congress. But with victory against two lesser-known opponents all but assured, Cassidy can afford to entertain the idea of running for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Mary Landrieu in 2014. "Absolutely, I would consider it," he says. "I'm an American. To be asked to run for Senate, wouldn't that be an incredible honor?" Which is not to say he's necessarily running. Doing so requires four things, he says: family approval, a victory in his next election, money in the bank, and support from "serious people," including big donors and grassroots organizers, who could help him win. "We've been working hard so the people in this district know that we have policy," he says, including work on Medicaid reform, relief for victims of the Stanford Ponzi scheme and dyslexia education. "You build that sort of reputation so that if another opportunity comes along, people look at your track record and say, 'He's a guy worthwhile working with.' " Cassidy argues Landrieu's seniority doesn't mean as much as it used to. "Mary always brought home lots of earmarks," he says. "But the fact is that we're now in a post-bacon paradigm. Obama's going to veto any bill that has earmarks." Cassidy's challengers in the Nov. 6 election are Rufus Holt Craig Jr., a Libertarian, and Richard Torregano, no party affiliation. —David Jacobs