Edwards defeats Vitter for Louisiana governor

The Senate race in Lousiana will be interesting, but even without a strong candidate, the GOP base of support gives any Republican nominee an advantage.

Vitter’s announcement came moments after he began his concession speech as he began to speak about his future. Polls predicted Democrat Jack Conway would hold the open seat contest for Kentucky governor, but instead Republican nominee Matt Bevin easily captured the seat for just the second time in forty years for the GOP.

Edwards also continued to strike at Vitter for the prostitution scandal, most notably when he ran a TV ad that said Vitter missed a vote to honor soldiers because of a phone call from the prostitution service, choosing “prostitutes over patriots”. He is a devout Catholic, U.S. Army veteran, and family man whose roots in the state go incredibly deep.

“We will be very inclusive and moderate… and govern from the perspective of being Louisianians first”, said Edwards, who beat Republican U.S. Sen.

Vitter’s declaration Saturday night that he has reached his “personal term limit” makes those questions moot (and resolves another potential dilemma for him: He has sponsored legislation in Congress to limit senators to two terms). While an unpopular governor and a fractured Republican Party proved too much for Vitter, Harris said, Republicans easily won other statewide offices and picked up two seats in the House. “I had decided when I chose to make this race with Wendy that I wanted to pursue new challenges outside the Senate no matter what”. At the time, he confessed to a “serious sin”, and then handily won re-election to the Senate in 2010.

But the race shifted dramatically in recent months as Vitter clashed with other Republican candidates and Edwards cast him as no different than Jindal in a state that is struggling economically.

Once Edwards takes office in January, there will be 31 Republican governors, 18 Democrats and one independent. In the end, though, this being Louisiana it seems clear that whoever emerges from the state’s jungle primary as the Republican nominee next year will be the odds-on favorite to win the election, and may well win the election outright in that primary.

The Louisiana governor’s election is finally underway. Edwards has said he will accept the funds, which would at least be a first step in stanching the hemorrhaging state budget. He says the election is a message that voters are fed up with ultra-partisan politics.

Edwards thanked his cheering supporters and said the election confounded conventional wisdom that he could not win.

With his anti-abortion and pro-gun stances, his military resume and his talk of bipartisan leadership, Edwards has put together a campaign that has been leading in fundraising and polling in the runoff campaign. But he also plans to expand Medicaid and push for a higher minimum wage, issues popular with Louisiana Democrats.

Lousiana’s last Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco, was succeeded by Mr Jindal in 2008. “I thought he was honest”, one supporter told WGNO.