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Posted on 12/15/2003 1:09:34 PM PST by RobFromGa
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12/15/03 |
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WASHINGTON (Dec. 15) - U.S. Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) today announced he will not seek re-election to the United States Senate after serving 31 years in the United States Congress. "There comes a time in every career when it is time to step aside, and let others step up and serve," Sen. Breaux said. "And for my family and me that time has arrived. I will not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate." Sen. Breaux, 59, talked about his long career in government saying,"it's been a great 35 years - a few as a staff person, 14 years as a member of Congress, representing southwest Louisiana, and it will be 18 years as a U.S. senator, representing our state of Louisiana. I had the privilege of serving with five governors and seven presidents." Sen. Breaux is a long-time moderate Democrat, a founder of the Democratic Leadership Council, and co-chairman of the Senate Centrist Coalition. "Throughout my years in Congress, I have been guided by a simple philosophy - to make government work for everyone," he said. "My sincere hope is that future Congresses will be able to pursue the center-out coalitions that I advocated. It is my hope that cooperation and legitimate compromise between our political parties will not be seen as political failure, but rather as a means of building a stronger democracy that serves our nation." Sen. Breaux's record of accomplishments and results include: * Imposing budget discipline and passing targeted, responsible tax cuts to the people and businesses who could do the most good. * Expanding trade opportunities for Louisiana industries, while fighting to protect growers and workers from unfair and illegal foreign trade practices. * Expanding the energy industry, while seeking alternative energy sources. * Reforming the nation's welfare system - emphasizing more work, but increasing funds for training, education and childcare. * Securing funds to preserve and restore Louisiana's wetlands, and educating the nation about the importance of protecting vanishing coastlines. * And, making healthcare more affordable and more accessible, and most recently - adding a prescription drug benefit to a reformed and modernized Medicare program. Sen. Breaux thanked his wife Lois saying, "I could not have asked for a more helpful and supportive partner and friend. No one has been more lucky and fortunate than me in finding you." He also recognized his four children, three grandchildren, father, mother-in-law, staff, colleagues, friends and supporters. Sen. Breaux concluded by saying: "I'm not leaving today. There is still a lot to get done this Congress. We have to get the energy bill passed, and I want to get started on legislation for the 40 million Americans who have no health insurance. And, I look forward to co-chairing with Governor-elect Kathleen Blanco the very important summit meeting on healthcare in Louisiana. "So, this is not goodbye. After working for more than half my life on issues important to Louisiana, I intend to continue that involvement in the future, but in a different capacity. But for now - thank you for the privilege and honor of serving Louisiana and our country."
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The Pub candidate has to anticipate this kind of stuff and go on the attack against it in advance. Put it into his stump speeches - "Don't fall for last minute Democrat lies about the sugar subsidies" etc. Be blunt. They've got to be proactive in a state like LA.
I think you answered your own question there: "He was (still is, in fact) one of the good Rats."
He'll serve out his term, and let the Louisiana electoral system have yet another free-for-all to replace him.
Bobby Jindhal, anyone?
Many pondering U.S. Senate race
By CHRIS FRINKSpeculation on who might run to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. John Breaux ran long Monday.
Clear declarations, however, ran short.
A long list of possible candidates -- currently serving politicians and losers in recent elections -- floated around Monday after Breaux's announcement that he would not seek re-election to a fourth six-year term.
None of those potential senators -- the ones who could be reached -- would declare their intentions.
U.S. Rep. Chris John. D-Crowley, has spoken about his desire to succeed Breaux, but said little Monday about his own political future.
"I will formally announce my intentions at a later date," John said. "Today we should be focused on Sen. Breaux and the celebration of a great career."
U.S. Rep. David Vitter, R-Metairie, is another politician who talked openly about running, but had little to say about himself Monday.
"It's definitely John Breaux's day," he said. "He definitely earned it with his many years of dedicated service."
Outgoing Democratic Attorney General Richard Ieyoub, a 1995 candidate for U.S. Senate and third-place finisher in the 2003 primary in the governor's race, has been mentioned as a candidate to succeed Breaux.
A poll commissioned by The Advocate put Ieyoub at the top of the heap in a four-way race with John, Vitter and outgoing Republican state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Terrell.
Between Dec. 1-9, pollsters asked 750 registered voters across the state, "If John Breaux decided not to seek re-election to the U.S. Senate and the candidates were (Ieyoub, John, Terrell and Vitter), who would you vote for today?"
Ieyoub finished with the support of 28 percent of those polled.
The other three were clustered close together. Vitter and Terrell had 15 percent and John 13 percent.
A quarter of those surveyed either refused to answer or said they did not know who they would vote for, while 5 percent said they would not vote for any of those candidates.
Ieyoub had support from 49 percent of the black respondents.
John found the most support from his native Acadiana region, where 38 percent said they would vote for him. Vitter did the best in the New Orleans area, where 36 percent said they would vote for him.
"My gosh, I'm really pleased with those numbers," Ieyoub said Monday.
Ieyoub said that supporters from across the state encouraged him to run for Senate after his loss in the governor's race.
Now that Breaux is out, Ieyoub said he would consider a run. "I want a little time to think about it."
An Elections Department spokesman said Terrell was out of state Monday and could not be reached.
Democratic State Treasurer John Kennedy, who pulled out of the 2003 governor's race early in the campaign and has money left in his coffers, said he would ponder a run for Breaux's seat over the Christmas holidays.
"I don't believe in running just because there is an open seat," Kennedy said Monday.
If he does decide to run, Kennedy said, it is because the nation faces serious issues including a growing deficit and an increased trade imbalance.
Republican Bobby Jindal, another possible candidate for the Senate on the heels of his strong run for governor in 2003, did not return a call seeking comment on a second possible run for statewide office.
During a press conference Monday, Breaux declined to discuss possible candidates for his seat.
"I think it's very premature to talk about running for this seat --I'm still in it," he said.
Breaux said he would not pick a successor.
"I will not try in any way to select or anoint or appoint them, since it's not in my capacity nor should it be," Breaux said. "Will I be involved? Perhaps. I'll have to wait and see when we get into the race, but I certainly don't want to try and select my successor. That's not the way it works."
Editor's note: Advocate staff writers Scott Dyer and Gerard Shields contributed to this report.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/121603/new_race001.shtml
Exactly, the significance of the Breaux retirement is not capturing the Louisiana seat, although that is clearly a possibility, but rather it forces the RATS to devote resources to defend another open seat, thus bankrupting their efforts elsewhere.
A gain of 5-6 seats is clearly doable next year... for those who assert that this still won't get our judicial nominees approved, this is wrong. Anything over 55 votes will scare enough RATS up for re-election in 2006 to bolt and seek political cover. We can bribe the rest with goodies. 55-56 seats is about the threshold we need to open up the bulk of the federal circuit court appointments.
Geesh, dude, don't be so hard on yourself. I'm in Illinois, and even we have a shot at winning the Senate seat here. Louisiana's congressional delegation is mostly conservative and Jindal came within a hair of winning. And aside from Maryland, the title of "most hopelessly Democrat state in the south" is currently held by Arkansas. They are in the deep south and surrounded by Republican strongholds, yet their political makeup currently looks like THIS:
Both U.S. Senators-- Liberal RATS
3 out of 4 Congressional Seats-- Liberal RATS
State House-- 30 Republicans, 70 RATS
State Senate-- 8 Republicans, 27 RATS
SECRETARY OF STATE-- Liberal RAT
ATTORNEY GENERAL-- Liberal RAT
STATE AUDITOR-- Liberal RAT
STATE TREASURER-- Liberal RAT
STATE LAND COMMISSIONER-- Liberal RAT
I thought they learned their lesson after Clinton when they elected a conservative Governor, but I bet that position goes RAT in the next election too.
The Honorable Senate Democrat Caucus has stood at zero members even since EVERY DemocRAT Senator (including Breaux) voted in unison to save Slick Willy during impeachment.
Now the Moderate Democrat Caucus will be done a single member-- Ben Nelson. (the Moderate Republican Caucus has at least a dozen members and the RINO Republican Caucus has at least five)
Hopefully we can replace those five DemocRAT seats with real Senators and have enough votes to stop the RINO/RAT coalition from killing every decent thing the Senate tries to pass.
35 years on the public tit is NOT something envisioned by our Founders, who strongly believed in part-time, amateur politicians who had real-world experience and the desire to return to the real world ASAP.
Not gasbag, money-squandering, vote-buying, vote-stealing professional parasites like Breaux. The only "transcendent" thing he's done is help drive up the national debt. That will persist for decades if not centuries - if our theoretically-free Republic lasts that long.
There's timeless political impact for ya.
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