Posted on 11/22/2015 10:43:46 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Democrat John Bel Edwards took a victory lap last night after winning Louisiana’s gubernatorial race by a wide margin. While things had looked pretty good for Republican Senator David Vitter a couple of months ago, in the end it really wasn’t even close. (New York Times)
With a victory that defied political geography and near universal predictions from just months earlier, a previously little-known Democrat, State Representative John Bel Edwards, soundly defeated United States Senator David Vitter in a runoff election on Saturday to become the next governor of Louisiana.
Mr. Edwards won 56 percent of the vote with virtually all of the ballots counted.
During his concession speech, Vitter shocked some of his supporters by saying that not only would he not be taking over as governor, he would also not be seeking another term in the Senate and would instead retire. So what went so wrong for the GOP down there?
The answer may not be what you think. One part of the equation is that the Democrats found the right guy to run. Edwards’ biography lays it all out. A West Point graduate and Airborne Ranger, Edwards is pro-gun, hawkish and touts his family’s deep religious faith and ties to the church. If you dropped this guy anywhere else in the country he’d be a Republican. Heck.. .he’d be toward the right wing of the party. In short, they found somebody palatable to any Republicans who were dissatisfied with the current leadership and looking for a change.
Vitter on the other hand may have been a flawed candidate to a certain extent, but was probably more a victim of circumstances in this case. It’s true that he had that whole prostitution thing hanging around in his closet which would have made him untenable in any sort of national race. (There’s no quicker way to lose the women’s vote than having a bunch of headlines with the word “hooker” in them following you around.) But back home in Louisiana the people seemed to have largely forgiven him his transgressions. The prostitute scandal broke in 2007 and 2008, but in the 2010 race he won reelection to his Senate seat by a daunting 57-38 margin over Charlie Melancon. He may have been wounded, but he was still a solid contender in his home state.
This time however, while Edwards brought up the hooker problem constantly, it was probably Bobby Jindal who sank Vitter. Jindal is term limited, but it’s doubtful that he could have won another term under current conditions anyway. The Governor’s current approval ratings are rarely as high as the mid-30s and have fallen as low as 27% earlier this year. Voters have been dissatisfied with the results of Jindal’s policies and that’s washing over onto the rest of the party. If Vitter were selling a winning message I’m willing to bet the public would have overlooked any past scandals on his resume, but times have been hard down there and people were just looking for a change.
Is this a long term change? Somehow I doubt it. Until national conditions shift a bit there probably won’t be a major shift in public opinion even with a Democrat in the governor’s mansion. Given one term of that, traditional Republicans will likely come back around next time, assuming the GOP can come up with a qualified candidate who has a good back story for the next run. In the meantime, best of luck to Governor-elect Edwards. You’ve got a pretty big challenge in front of you.
Maybe the country is sick of immoral leaders. I am stunned by allowances given to a cheat. shocking.
[and touts his family’s deep religious faith and ties to the church]
OK, that part made me laugh.
Not sure about this yet. The Republican Lt Governor won by an equal margin over the Dem. I think it was all about Vitter.
Count on it. This is why it does not matter who gets the Republican nomination. The last two presidential elections were just warm ups. This next election will see voter fraud and electronic cheating on a massive scale. It's a done deal. Yet it won't keep me away from the polls.
John Bel Edwards is pro-gun and pro-life and being a military vet looked good on his resume.
GOP voters simply deserted Vitter. Even GOP parishes went for Edwards.
Yup. Edwards is a Blue Dog Democrat.
That’s why he put the race away.
In the South, people would vote for a Blue Dog before they would vote for a Republican.
Maybe the next the GOP will get its act together.
Louisiana has a long (or is it “Long”?) history of Democrat governors coming from WAY behind and still taking the race. Of course, until fairly recently, there were only Democrats running against Democrats, so that is not perhaps a fair assessment of the current situation.
But this peculiar situation of the Democrat being both a more respectable and more conservative candidate for the office than the Republican puts a rather different cast on things.
Is this a test case by the national Democrat party to try out the conservative/libertarian philosophy? If the name of the game is to win elections, and not necessarily to push a reform (or deform, as the case may be) agenda, and the national Republicans seem not to have ANY agenda other than field a candidate, any candidate, in each election, then this may start to pay off big time for the Democrats.
Edwards IS NOT conservative. He may claim to be, but he will be trying to raise taxes first thing.
No.
A liberal Democrat has no chance in the South.
Bel Edwards was very attractive to GOP voters.
I don’t see the national party running Blue Dogs in the South.
Bobby Jindal dropped out of the presidential race to sink Vitter.
Somehow?? he was an unmitigated disaster. I am absolutely glad he is gone. No, I don’t want a Dim, but sometimes we need to cut out our own cancer to move forward. Vitter was such a cancer. Glad he’s gone. Good riddance.
Edwards has to work with a GOP legislature.
Good luck with it.
He won 57% of the vote. Large number ticket splitting.
“Basically, in Louisiana, the lieutenant governor is the state’s ambassador of tourism, which is an $11 million industry in Louisiana. The office oversees state parks, museums and tourism promotion through the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.”
http://www.arklatexhomepage.com/news/nungesser-elected-lt-governor
At least on radio, Vitter ran a terrible campaign and Edwards’ campaign was silken. Vitter ran heavy handed, crass, and clearly ineffective attack ads. Edwards ran calm, reassuring schmooze ads, and more of them.
Hard to live down the whoremongering around here too. He got some last minute traction with the Syrian refugee placement, but his own lassitude, negativity, and some burden he had to carry from Jindal’s unpopularity sunk him.
This election cycle is very low energy, with very, very few people taking any pride in or boosting their candidates. I’ve seen only four bumper stickers this year, one for Hillary and THREE for SANDERS!
Weird cycle.
It’s really too bad he couldn’t keep it zipped.
Vitter was one of the few U.S. Senators on the citizens side in the fight against the illegal alien inundation.
Yup. GOP voters elected Edwards and voted down ballot races GOP.
The legislature is crawling with RINOs itching to raise taxes.
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