Actually having nine opponents is not a good thing. Louisiana does not have primaries so the election is the primary. You have to win with 50% of the vote in La. So in other words if you only get 49% you have to have a run off with the next leading vote getter. Sometimes these run offs do not work out so well, just ask William "cold cash dollar Bill" Jefferson.
If all the states were like this we probably would not have Al Franken in the senate.