COMMUNITY REPORT

NewspaperFebruary 18, 1999 | Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)

Page: 5H2 | Section: PICAYUNE

Republican Women to meet

The Slidell Republican Women's Club will meet Friday at Le Petite Chateau, 153 Robert St.

The general membership meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Slidell Chief of Police Ben Morris will speak at 11 a.m. The cost of the lunch is $13.

For information, call Norma Dunkelberg at 645-9865.

VITTER DOES BETTER WITH OLDER VOTERS, POLL SAYS

NewspaperMay 27, 1999 | Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)

Author: Stephanie Grace and Steve Ritea Staff writers | Page: A6 | Section: NATIONAL | Column: CAMPAIGN WATCH

864 Words

Although Dave Treen and David Vitter were locked in a dead heat in a poll conducted last week of 360 likely voters in the 1st Congressional District, new details made available Wednesday show the 38-year-old Vitter was doing better than the 70-year-old Treen among senior citizens.

Voters 65 or older favored Vitter over Treen 37 percent to 24 percent, according to the poll for WDSU-TV and InsideNewOrleans.com. Susan Howell, one of two pollsters on the survey, said one reason is older voters "more readily recognize the limitations of age themselves."

The poll was conducted May 17-19 and has a margin of error of 5 percent.

Overall, the poll showed Treen with 35 percent and Vitter with 32 percent in the race to succeed Bob Livingston, who resigned Feb. 28.

The poll showed Treen leading Vitter 46 percent to 32 percent in St. Tammany Parish, 30 percent to 21 percent in Tangipahoa. Vitter held a slight lead in Jefferson Parish, with 36 percent compared to Treen's 34 percent, and in Washington Parish, 25 percent to Treen's 13 percent. Both candidates had 38 percent in the small Orleans Parish section of the district, Howell said.

*** Making distinctions ***

With both candidates taking similarly conservative lines on the issues, Vitter, most polls' ever-so-slight underdog, has been trying to gain ground by pounding at subtle distinctions or differences in interpretation.

One area of his focus is abortion. Both say they are anti-abortion, but Treen favors keeping abortion legal for victims of rape or incest or to save the life of the mother. Vitter favors the life-of-the-mother provision.

"My opponent is pro-abortion in cases of rape and incest and, even more troubling to me, is for federal funding of those abortions," Vitter said at Friday's Slidell Republican Women's Club forum, which Treen did not attend. "I think it is completely outrageous and offensive for the federal government to take my tax dollars and pay for a procedure that I have fundamental, moral problems with."

Treen said later he opposes all federal financing for abortion but would vote to allow financing for the three exceptions as a concession to blocking federal financing of other abortions.

But Vitter points to an issue guide, produced by New Orleans Right to Life, which says Treen would vote against an amendment restricting federal money only in cases to save the mother's life. Anti-abortion activist Peg Kenney, who assembled the issue guide, said that's how Treen answered the group's questionnaire.

Treen said the guide misrepresents his position. Neither he nor Kenney could produce his original answers.

Ed Renwick of the Loyola University Institute of Politics said he finds the focus on the divisive issue so late in the campaign odd.

"Abortion is such a controversial issue, with a relatively small number of people on each side and most people in the middle," he said. "When you start pushing one side, you automatically turn a lot of people off."

Vitter has also challenged Treen's assertion that Treen never voted for a pay raise while serving in Congress from 1973 until 1979. Vitter points to a 1977 Treen vote not to block financing for a previously approved 29 percent congressional raise.

Dennis Daugherty, Treen's top legislative aide in the 1970s, said the raise took effect automatically. He said that if Treen had voted against financing a raise that had been lawfully approved and had taken effect, it would have been akin to "agreeing to pay for something and not putting enough in the account to cover a check."

*** The end is in sight ***

The campaign limped toward a close Wednesday at perhaps the last candidate forum.

With Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court Jon Gegenheimer sitting in for Treen, the Louisiana Republican Leadership Council and WTIX radio listeners heard lots of agreement and a few distinctions on the issues between Treen and Vitter.

Among the distinctions Vitter drew when comparing his positions to Treen's:

* Vitter would have voted for all four articles of impeachment against President Clinton. Treen would have supported one.

* Vitter is opposed to "virtually all" gun control proposals. Treen has said he would support requiring gun dealers to sell trigger locks with handguns and would oppose a federal law to shield gun manufacturers from liability, calling liability legislation a state function.

* Vitter would end the current tax code at the end of 2000. Treen has said that would be dangerous if an agreement for a new system has not been reached.

Vitter was a state representative from 1992 until this year, when he resigned to run for Congress. After leaving Congress, Treen served one term as governor, 1980-84.

Treen missed Wednesday's forum because he was in Oregon monitoring the successful search for his grandson.

Vitter and Gegenheimer managed several back-and-forth exchanges. For example, both were asked about the lopsided distribution of endorsements. Vitter said Treen's many endorsements, particularly from Democrats such as U.S. Sen. John Breaux, D-La., and Sheriff Harry Lee, prove Vitter's independence.

"I'm not a member of the fraternity. I've never wanted to join. I've never tried to join," Vitter said.

Gegenheimer countered that Treen has lost supporters over the years when he refused to pander to their wishes.

"There is nobody any more independent than Dave Treen," Gegenheimer said. "That's the major reason he lost to Edwin Edwards in 1983."