When folks question a candidate’s residency, they are not only implying that the office-seeker is committing fraud. They are also questioning whether that person has lost touch with people in his or her state.
Look at what’s happening to the down-in-the-polls-up-in-the-polls campaign of Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). He has been in Washington since 1980, when he was elected to the House of Representatives, and is now seeking a fourth Senate term. Roberts has been inside the Beltway so long that Shirley Deege told The Post’s Philip Rucker last month, “He’s spent so much time in Washington. … I know he has a house in Virginia. Dodge City is supposed to be his home, just up the highway, but I don’t hear of him coming back too much.” Translation: He’s out of touch.
The same cannot be said of the most vulnerable incumbent on the ballot next month, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). Oh, sure, she had her residency questioned, which survived a court challenge last month. But if anyone had doubts that Landrieu lost touch with Louisiana, they were put to rest last Saturday.
That’s the three-term senator from the legendary family, now seeking a fourth, bustin’ some serious moves at a Southern University tailgate last Saturday. The dance is called the Wobble. Looks like a modified electric slide that requires facility with one’s hips and more than a modicum of rhythm. Trust me, you can’t fake this.
It might mean much in terms of policy positions. But it speaks to a cultural fluency that says she knows exactly where her home is. If Landrieu’s constituents were wondering whether she’s still one of them and can relate to them, the proof is right there in her Wobble.
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