David Vitter Trying To Overcome Prostitution Scandal In Governor’s Race

Would Democrats, normally facing long odds in a statewide election, see a chance for a repeat of the perfect-storm governor-race scenario, in which a consensus Democratic candidate matches up against a battered, vulnerable Vitter, who squeezes by Republican challenges to make the runoff? Noting the nastiness of the campaign in his victory speech, Mr Edwards said voters in Louisiana had “chosen hope over scorn, over negativity and over the distrust of others”. “I honestly don’t think it makes a difference”.

Vitter’s stance echoed that of Jindal and 30 other US governors – all but one of them Republican – who have said they will refuse to cooperate in accepting Syrian refugees or called on Obama to halt the program pending a review of federal screening procedures.

Edwards – about as conservative as Democrats come – racked up 56% of the vote compared to Vitter’s 43%. In conceding his final defeat on Saturday, Mr Vitter also announced that he would not run for re-election to the Senate next year.

“I’m eager to refocus on the important work of the United States Senate”, he said. Current Governor Bobby Jindal isn’t particularly well liked there-a recent poll found that he only had a roughly 20 percent approval rating overall, and even worse, 55 percent of Republicans in the state don’t approve of his job performance.

And if there were 90 days, rather than a mere four weeks, between the primary and the general election there would have been more time to stitch up the wounds created by three Republicans stabbing each other while the one Democrat in the race was unmolested.

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. He set the terms of the dialog, simply deflecting charges in that he’s too copious to govern reliably Republican Louisiana & shifting the main target to character, character & the social issues on which he holds more conservative positions.

Stephanie Grace breaks down John Bel Edwards’ gameplan to win governor’s race in ruby-red Louisiana How’d he do it?

You will hear lots of post-election sniping at David Vitter, and particularly from ankle-biters in the Jay Dardenne camp. Edwards has supported Medicaid expansion in Louisiana, which Jindal has rejected.

“Democrats couldn’t have a better candidate”, Edwin Edwards said at the Democrats’ lively election night party here at the Hotel Monteleone. He will take office January 11. Rep. Sam Jones, who recalled the exchange recently, asked Edwards if that meant he was going to return to his small-town law practice in Amite.

Vitter, 54, limped into Saturday’s runoff election after finishing far behind Edwards, 49, in the October primary, and became the standard-bearer for a Republican Party splintered by infighting.

He also leveraged his appointment to West Point, where he became an Army Ranger before returning to Louisiana to raise his family. “We can not have someone who comes from a dysfunctional Washington political environment”, Edwards said.