Open Warfare a G.O.P. Lead In

Times have rarely been harder in Louisiana. The oil bust has devastated the state's most important industry. Cotton is no longer king, nor is sugarcane. The unemployment rate of 12.8% is the second highest in the nation, just behind Mississippi's. Some 80,000 people have left the state since 1983. The Governor, smooth-talking Edwin Edwards, has survived two trials on racketeering and fraud charges, though he did not emerge unscathed. Two state administrators have been jailed on corruption charges, and two others are under indictment. "I am frightened about our future," says Greenwell Springs Resident Joyce Payer. "I am worried about my husband's job. I have lost mine. The image of the state is very poor. I am tired of reading about dishonest politicians."

Enter W. Henson Moore, a six-term Republican Congressman from Baton Rouge who is running for the Senate with a stern message for voters: "It's morning in Louisiana. The party's over. It's time to put our people back to work." Moore, 46, could become Louisiana's first Republican Senator in this century. In Saturday's "open" primary, a nonpartisan melee in which any candidate who gets more than 50% of the vote is automatically elected, he has a fair shot at winning outright the seat being vacated by the wily Russell Long after 38 years in the Senate. If no candidate hits the mark, the two top vote getters, regardless of party affiliation, face each other in a November runoff.

With 13 other candidates going up against Moore, winning the seat on the first round will be tough. His chief rival is Democrat John Breaux, 42, a handsome seven-term Congressman from Cajun country down in the state's southwestern bayou parishes. Moore and Breaux have all but ignored other contenders, like State Senate President Sammy Nunez, choosing instead to turn their fire on each other. Moore is the solid front runner. He has presented himself as a staunch Reagan Republican, appealing to conservative Democrats disillusioned by their party's mismanagement of state affairs. "The people in this state know that the rest of the country is seeing boom times," says Moore. "They are not blaming Reagan. They are blaming the local political system for not preparing the state." He has attacked Breaux for his ties to Louisiana's Democratic elite and for missing 1,083 House votes during his Capitol Hill career. In an effort to cut into his rival's support among blacks, he ran a commercial declaring Breaux had voted against legislation to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday. Actually, Breaux voted against the measure in 1979 but supported the bill four years later. Moore voted against the bill both times.

Breaux's hope is to prevent Moore from winning the magic 50%, then to unify all the Democratic factions behind him for the runoff. "I have been an effective legislator," says Breaux. "I am talking performance while he is talking plans." Known as an artful wheeler-dealer on Capitol Hill, Breaux has $ in fact pushed through 19 pieces of legislation in the House, vs. none for Moore. The Democrat has played down the issue of party affiliation in his campaign, urging people to vote for the man, not the party. "I am an independent moderate Democrat," says he. "To elect a Republican misses the mark. What you want is a good Senator, one who reflects the right philosophy. Remember, we're replacing Russell Long."

For Republicans, struggling to preserve their majority in the Senate, the Louisiana contest is a high-stakes race. A Moore victory on Saturday might also touch off a chain of Republican congressional wins in the Deep South this fall. Last week Ronald Reagan visited the state to stump for Moore. Louisiana Democrats, the President told a luncheon crowd in New Orleans on Thursday, should not be wary about leaving their party. "The party has already left you."