Congressman Ralph Abraham, the top polling Republican in the governor’s race, is taking some heat after a report shows he’s missed 39 percent of US House votes since November.
LSU Political Science Professor Robert Hogan says anytime an elected official takes time away from legislating to campaign, they open themselves up to a fairly common line of attack.
“It’s something that Edwards in particular will be able to say that, while Governor Edwards has been here doing his job, Abraham is not doing his job in Washington.”
Abraham responded, saying “being a Congressman is more than just sitting at a desk voting yes or no, we are daily solving our constituents’ problems.”
But Hogan says the attack often doesn’t stick, because most of those votes, like a recent one on immigration, weren’t even close anyway.
“He can legitimately say that my vote wouldn’t have mattered that the outcome would have been the same whether or not I was there, so I think it will be easy to assuage the concerns of people who have this.”
Abraham is missing from the roll call on 196 of the 509 votes that have been called since November.
It wasn’t all bad news this week for the candidate though, as Abraham managed to snag two of the state’s top donors for his gubernatorial effort. Hogan says it’s a major win for the Congressman.
“That’s going to make a lot of Republicans, who have been worried about his candidacy that’s been lagging in fundraising, more assurance that he is going to be able to pursue a very competitive campaign.”
Those donors are Boysie Bollinger, who ran a shipbuilding firm, and Leon Canizaro, a New Orleans banker.
