BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana governor's race has taken a surprising turn into foreign policy ahead of Saturday's election.

TV political ads and campaign rhetoric in the race has shifted this week to the Paris terrorist attacks and the wisdom of allowing Syrian refugees into U.S. borders.

Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter sees the issue as an opportunity to gain ground in a runoff campaign where he's fallen behind. It's his latest effort to tie his Democratic rival, state Rep. John Bel Edwards, to President Barack Obama in the deeply conservative state.

The candidates' positions on the issue don't offer striking contrasts, however.

Both Edwards and Vitter said they would act as governor to block Syrian refugees from settling in Louisiana, although immigration experts say they don't have that authority under federal law.