Senate Panel Affirms Landrieu Election

After months of partisan wrangling, the Senate Rules Committee affirmed the election of Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu and voted, 16 to 0, to end an inquiry that had disrupted Senate business. The committee cited evidence of “some irregularities and isolated incidences of fraud” in Landrieu’s close November 1996 win over Republican Woody Jenkins--but not enough to justify reversing the outcome. Senate Democrats have boycotted the inquiry since June and have used parliamentary tactics to disrupt Senate committee sessions as a protest.