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Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy Will Face GOP Challenge
Ringside Politics ^ | 24 April 08 | Jeff Crouere

Posted on 04/26/2008 5:39:57 AM PDT by LSUfan

As of today, State Treasurer John Kennedy is the only announced Republican candidate in the U.S. Senate race this fall. The incumbent, Democrat U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, has been viewed by Republicans as vulnerable. In her Senate victories of 1996 and 2002, Landrieu won by slim margins. Since that time, the demographics of Louisiana have changed due to Hurricane Katrina, making the state more Republican friendly.

Can Kennedy beat Landrieu? If the election were held today, Landrieu would win, at least according to a new poll conducted by Bernie Pinsonat of Southern Media and Opinion Research. The poll finds Landrieu with a 70% approval rating and ahead of Kennedy by a comfortable margin of 50 to 38 percent.

Landrieu also leads in the important category of fundraising with a campaign war chest of approximately $4.5 million. Kennedy, who will benefit from an upcoming fundraiser headlined by President George W. Bush, has about $2 million in his campaign fund.

In the upcoming race, Kennedy is considered a strong opponent, even though he switched to the GOP just recently, after being personally encouraged by former White House Political Director Karl Rove. Kennedy spent his political career as a Democrat and in the 2004 U.S. Senate race, he finished a disappointing third. During that campaign, Kennedy ran to the left of former Congressman Chris John and the eventual winner David Vitter. In that race, Kennedy was supported by Congressman Bill Jefferson and his political organization, the Progressive Democrats.

Kennedy’s Democratic background will be an issue in the U.S. Senate Republican primary this fall because he will be challenged from the right by conservative businessman Paul Hollis of Mandeville, who confirms that he will enter the race.

Hollis is a 36 years old first time candidate and is the son of former Louisiana State Senator Ken Hollis of Metairie. He has spent his career in the rare coin industry, getting his start with Blanchard and Company of New Orleans, one of the nation’s largest rare coin firms. Later, he hosted “The Coin Vault,” a nationally televised program that reached 60 million homes on the Shop at Home television network. Eventually, he started his own coin firm, specializing in ancient coins that circulated during the lifetime of Jesus Christ.

Hollis is a fiscal and social conservative who will run to the right of Kennedy on most of the major issues in the campaign. He will focus on his 18 year history in the Republican Party and contrast that with Kennedy’s recent conversion. He is prepared to personally invest in the campaign and says he has the ability to raise significant funds from his contacts across the state and country. He should make a formal announcement in the next few weeks, giving the Republicans an unexpected choice in the race for U.S. Senate. With Kennedy’s funding and party support he will be a strong favorite, but Hollis will make the race interesting and potentially competitive.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: gop; hollis; landrieu; senate
I saw this guy on TV and he is a true conservative, unlike Kennedy, who ran for Senate against David Vitter as a liberal Democrat, with his chief supporter being Bill Jefferson.
1 posted on 04/26/2008 5:39:57 AM PDT by LSUfan
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To: LSUfan

Louisiana works by having a free-for-all election, followed by a run off of the top two candidates if no one gets over 50%, right?

This sounds like brilliant Rovian strategy: get a Democrat to run as a Republican against Landrieu, and once he’s already committed, stick a true conservative in the race. If all works well, Kennedy will split Landrieu’s vote and knock her out, leaving the runoff between the two Republicans. Sounds like a sure win strategy to me.


2 posted on 04/26/2008 5:53:25 AM PDT by counterpunch (Kick McCain upstairs)
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To: counterpunch

It doesn’t work that way any more. The “jungle primary” ended this year. There will be a party primary followed by a general election.


3 posted on 04/26/2008 5:57:56 AM PDT by LSUfan
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To: LSUfan

OK. Let’s revise that then...
Sounds like a typical Rovian strategy: get a well known liberal Democrat to run as a Republican, ensuring a real conservative Republican doesn’t get the nomination.


4 posted on 04/26/2008 6:01:43 AM PDT by counterpunch (Kick McCain upstairs)
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To: counterpunch

I don’t know that Rove had anything to do with Kennedy switching parties. The guy switched because he couldn’t win any other offices as a Democrat.

He ran for Senate against Vitter as a Dem—a liberal Dem in fact—and came in third behind another Dem.

He ran for Attorney General as a Dem and lost that too.

The only thing he has ever won is State Treasurer. I think he realized that he couldn’t run against Landrieu as a Dem and he doesn’t want to stay State Treasurer forever, so he switched to the GOP.

But make no mistake, he has absolutely NO conservative credentials whatsoever. None. Nada.


5 posted on 04/26/2008 6:37:30 AM PDT by LSUfan
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To: LSUfan

If you think the National Republican party is inept, you should see the Louisiana Republican party. Talk about Dumb and Dumberer, that is who they are.

They allowed Aaron Broussard to win in Jefferson Parish by not running any serious candidate against him. They lost the Attorney General race, the Sheriff of Jefferson Parish race by 90% to 10%. You don’t see those kind of numbers except in places like Iraq.

True, we got Bobby Jindahl, but that was no thanks to them. That was all Bobby’s doing. We’ll probably lose David Vitter’s seat if he decides to run for re-election.

In Landrieu’s last run for re-election, they ran a liberal woman against her that ran a poor campaign.

I don’t think Landrieu is sweating in her boots over this election.


6 posted on 04/26/2008 6:39:18 AM PDT by murron (Proud Marine Mom)
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To: murron

So true. The state GOP has no “farm system” for cultivating Republican leaders. Instead, they play the free agency market and take people from the other team.

Then they “annoint” them.


7 posted on 04/26/2008 6:42:08 AM PDT by LSUfan
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To: LSUfan

Sounds like New York.


8 posted on 04/26/2008 7:28:44 AM PDT by DWC
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To: murron

We’ll probably lose David Vitter’s seat if he decides to run for re-election.

I hope he loses in the primary. He is a snake who should have resigned for the good of the party.


9 posted on 04/26/2008 3:13:34 PM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: napscoordinator

I can’t imagine that he is even considering running. The Dems will run a conservative sounding Democrat against him, and we will lose another Republican seat in the Senate.

If he doesn’t run, we may have a shot at keeping that seat.


10 posted on 04/26/2008 6:20:21 PM PDT by murron (Proud Marine Mom)
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