Republican Vitter, Democrat Edwards in Louisiana gov runoff

Consider that these state legislators have better LABI scores than John Bel Edwards… His successor will inherit major state budget problems. The two other GOP contenders split much of the remaining vote, with Angelle polling about 19 percent and Dardenne receiving about 15 percent.

The runoff election is November 21. Conway, quoting from a playbook that failed Democrats in 2014, has campaigned proudly on his lawsuits against the Obama EPA. “That’s why more than 70 percent of them rejected his campaign today”.

Months ago, Vitter was atop the polls, flush with millions in campaign cash and running like an incumbent.

“We have a stark difference in this runoff”, Vitter said. Conservative voters tend to hit the ballot booth anyway, but they’re especially motivated these days given recent federal policy on same-sex marriage, immigration and healthcare reform. And yet none of them have a voting record as consistently awful as John Bel Edwards does. “He just said, “No, we’re gonna love this baby no matter what'”. He also has a West Point degree and military background.

Normand said he told Vitter that he “would be the worst governor in the history of the state of Louisiana”. Vitter, who has prided himself on being an outsider since he led the charge for term limits in the state in the 1990s, could recycle a few of his critiques of Angelle and Dardenne’s use of perks for elected officials in attacking Edwards.

And those lobbyists know perfectly well that John Bel Edwards has a 25 lifetime score from LABI. “He’s a true believer”, Vitter said. And it’s largely recognized that Vitter will reload and bury Edwards with ads tying him to Barack Obama and Democrat failure of governance in Louisiana.

Mann was right. That’s pretty blatant and more than a little heavy-handed and it sends a clear message to lobbyists to be ready to play ball if they want special favors from a Vitter administration.

Vitter, however, launched an immediate attack.

It’s impossible to predict what either Dardenne or Angelle will do in the coming weeks, but their tone on October 24 did not seem warm toward Vitter.

“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”.

The Republican USA senator David Vitter and Democratic state representative John Bel Edwards highlighted their strategies on Saturday night, as the candidate list was whittled to two in the governor’s race.

“I stood up to Bobby Jindal and his disastrous policies”, Edwards said in his campaign. And since easily winning a second term in 2011, Jindal’s popularity in the state has plummeted – especially after launching his long-shot presidential campaign. And the central players in the shadows are clearly President Barack Obama, and Governor Bobby Jindal. Democrats can still deliver a large block of votes, even if the party hasn’t been able to elect one of its own to statewide office since 2008.

It’s possible, though not something one can predict at this point, that white turnout would be suppressed because of concerns among whites – particularly Republicans – about Vitter’s association with Spygate and prostitutes.