Drew Angerer / Getty Images Sen. Mary Landrieu talks with a reporter outside the Senate chamber.

WASHINGTON — When Sen. Mary Landrieu took to the floor Nov. 21, 2009, she was determined to set the record straight. With Senate leaders still struggling to find the votes for the law that would become known as Obamacare, rumors began leaking to the press that Majority Leader Harry Reid had secured the Louisiana Democrat's vote with a promise of $100 million in Medicare payments to the state. It wasn't true, and Landrieu was none too pleased. "I am not going to be defensive about asking for help in this situation, and it is not a $100 million fix. It is a $300 million fix. … I'm proud to have asked for it. I'm proud to have fought for it," Landrieu declared matter-of-factly. Landrieu's floor speech was all the more remarkable given the intense pressure Democrats were under from Republicans over Obamacare. Within weeks, fellow centrist Sen. Ben Nelson found himself embroiled in controversy over the "Cornhusker Kickback" — a $45 million provision inserted into the health care measure for Nebraska that Reid had included as a sweetener for Nelson's vote. Nelson then followed the conventional wisdom — if you're a red state, moderate Democrat, you need to run from your party, its signature legislation, and any hint that you break conservative fiscal orthodoxy. But that strategy didn't help Nelson, who watched as conservatives mounted an aggressive campaign around the earmark, ultimately forcing him into early retirement. Meanwhile, Landrieu has embraced her record for bringing home the bacon, hasn't shied away from her Obamacare votes and finds herself in a good position to win reelection in one of the most conservative, anti-Obama states in the nation. "It was just the way I was to taught to be, or encouraged to be, by my father and my parents," Landrieu told BuzzFeed. A recent Landrieu campaign ad makes clear just how central her incumbency — and the benefits of seniority in the Senate — will be to her election bid, invoking her position as chairman of the Energy Committee, which the narrator solemnly assures the viewer is "the most powerful position in the Senate for Louisiana."

This is not new: Until Hurricane Katrina made it impolitic, more than a few of her colleagues referred to Landrieu as "Hurricane Mary" for her penchant for throwing last minute monkey wrenches into legislation in order to secure more funding for her state. The political strategy is a throwback to a time when seniority could be a powerful campaign weapon — when being a longtime incumbent meant plum committee assignments, and more importantly, millions or even billions in federal dollars for their states. The Republican revolution of 1995 ushered in a new era of anti-incumbency fervor that took on a fever pitch in the wake of the Bush era's spending excesses and string of congressional ethics scandals. The tea party rose up in response to that visceral voter anger, leaving Democratic members in red and purple states especially vulnerable to attack when pork-barrel projects became liabilities. The result: Lawmakers running from voting records, skittishly attempting to deflect attention from certain votes. Nelson, for instance, opted to retire rather than run in a race most observers expected him to lose. Likewise, former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan retired abruptly in 2010 in the face of a potential challenge from popular Republican Gov. John Hoeven, who eventually took the seat. Fellow red state Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who like Landrieu and Nelson voted for Obamacare, voted with Republicans a year later when Democrats sought to push through additional health care provisions, and spent much of her 2010 race establishing how much different she was from Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Harry Reid. Those efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful, and she was defeated in November by Republican John Boozeman, a former optometrist who'd spent nearly a decade as a rank-and-file member of the House. While Landrieu's embrace of her record sets her apart, she still emphasizes the "centrist" part of it, however. "I don't apologize … I'm very happy doing it and so far, the people of my state have elected me to do it. But I'm the same, and I'm going to stay the same. I'm a centrist, and I'm not going to run away from it. I'm going to run to it," Landrieu said.

The Associated Press Sen. Lindsey Graham (right) speaks with Erminie Nave (left) after speaking at a campaign stop at American Legion Post 20 on Wednesday, April 23, in Greenwood, S.C.