BATON ROUGE (AP) — Gov. John Bel Edwards, the rare Democratic statewide elected official in the Deep South, will be on the tarmac to greet President Barack Obama as he arrives in Louisiana this week.
But whether the two men will have a sit-down meeting remains uncertain.
Obama will land in Baton Rouge on Wednesday evening, ahead of a Thursday appearance at a local high school.
Edwards said his newly-signed executive order starting the process for expanding Louisiana's Medicaid program will be a topic when he and the president speak. Edwards said he'll "be asking for as much cooperation as possible" from the Obama administration on the expansion plan.
The governor might have to talk fast. Edwards spokesman Richard Carbo says no meeting with Obama beyond the tarmac greeting has been set so far.