Edwards, Vitter in Louisiana governor’s runoff

The race for Governor is heating up, and we now have two candidates heading to a runoff election in November- John Bel Edwards and David Vitter.

“Voting for John Bel Edwards would be the same as voting for Barack Obama”, said Vitter, who finished second with 23 percent, told supporters during his victory party in Kenner Saturday night. “This includes John Bel Edwards’ business associate and major donor, and his relationship with the John Bel Edwards campaign”. On Saturday, after the election results came in, Edwards spent almost an hour talking to reporters while Vitter left without interviews. One PAC is running an “Anybody But Vitter” campaign. Edwards faces Republican David Vitter in a runoff in the gubernatorial race. Vitter is trying to make his head-to-head matchup with Edwards a partisan competition.

All the gubernatorial rivals said they’d need to call at least one special legislative session after taking office to work on tax reform.

“We can not afford a third Jindal term”.

FOX 8 political analyst Mike Sherman says, “He put up a big number last night at 40 percent, showing he’s within striking distance”. The far-right senator has already won statewide races; he’s an effective fundraiser; and he has near-universal name recognition in his home state.

Two other Republicans have trailed in the polls.

An Ivy League-educated Rhodes Scholar from the New Orleans suburbs, Vitter returned to a campaign style that has worked for him in previous races. He ran on conservative values and described himself as a political outsider. That doesn’t mean Dardenne, who will now be courted to run for the upcoming mayor’s race in Baton Rouge, or Angelle will endorse Vitter, but it does mean they won’t endorse Edwards.

Meanwhile, Edwards took time to meet with media Sunday morning in Baton Rouge.

The senator apologized in 2007 for a “very serious sin”, after he was linked through phone records to Washington’s “DC Madam”.

“He’s cheated, he lied and now he’s been caught spying”, Dardenne said in a web video his campaign posted Saturday, adding: “We can avoid the disappointment, the embarrassment, the ridicule, the shame”.

Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, candidate for Louisiana governor, delivers his concession speech at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette, La., Saturday, October 24, 2015.

My guess is Dardenne voters, collectively more moderate than Angelle’s, will have an easier time joining the “anyone but Vitter” camp. While his three GOP opponents struck at each other, Edwards saved most of his criticism for Jindal, who Edwards blamed for cratering the state’s finances.

However, neither received the needed percentage of the vote to be declared victor outright. However, Edwards hinted that he would not hold back if campaigning turned negative.

Edwards is campaigning as a conservative Democrat, pro-gun and anti-abortion, and comes from a family of sheriffs.