Posted on 09/08/2009 6:38:10 AM PDT by Ebenezer
BATON ROUGE -- More than a year before Louisiana voters head to the polls in what promises to be one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races in the country, the rhetoric already is heating up between incumbent Republican David Vitter and his Democratic challenger, Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville.
The standard political playbook says incumbent politicians should ignore their opponents as long as possible, as mentioning them by name only gives them free publicity. But Vitter, who is seeking a second term after becoming Louisiana's first Republican senator since Reconstruction in 2004, turned that theory on its head during August.
In speeches, press releases and Internet-only campaign ads, Vitter launched a series of attacks against Melancon for his out-of-state fundraising travels, and tried to lump him with Democratic congressional leaders and the administration of President Barack Obama.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Pelican State ping
Well moron, if he's a Democrat, then he is indeed another Obama lump.
Melancon has no chance.
I met this reporter Moller before. He’s at the Capitol Bureau and I visited them at the Baton Rouge 4/15/09 Tea Party. He actually tried to tell me that McCain’s pick of Palin for VEEP cost him more votes than it got him.
It’s best not to pay a whole lot of attention to what he writes.
I watched the Senate Republican healthcare townhall that Vitter chaired in Louisiana. He was very impressive.
I find it quite amusing that they believe that this is a negative in spite of their own propaganda to the contrary.
I watched the Senate Republican healthcare townhall that Vitter chaired in Louisiana. He was very impressive.
I watched it too and thought the same thing. I know when things REALLY heat up they are going to bring up the madam thing but WE don’t CARE. It’s over we’ve moved on. Knowing David Vitter and his wife Wendy, makes it easy for me to vote Vitter. I just wish we could shake Landrieu!
How does the Melancon family do as regards putting their young men in uniform? Do they have to go back to WWII to find an example of one?
Harry Reid needs Charlie Melancon in the US Senate!
The standard political playbook must have been written by the same beltway "experts" who helped to decimate the Repubs in 2006 & 2008 elections. Here in Minnesota 1st District, Gil Gutnecht got defeated by uber liberal retard Tim Waltz in 2006, and after a razor thin defeat by this liberal retard, Gil Gutnecht admitted that he had allowed himself to be talked into NOT attacking or going on the offense against Waltz. And now we have another liberal retard demoRAT in the House.
Same thing happened in the senate race in 2008 when Norm Coleman very stupidly allowed clown Al Franken to go on all out offense against him, and only late in the campaign did Norm try to go on offense and by then it was too late. Norm was defeated by a clown & buffoon Al Franken in a fraudulant recount, which never should have even been close to begin with.
My advice to Republicans, ESPECIALLLY conservative Republicans.....ignore and in fact do the opposite of what the "standard political playbook" says to do.
Mr. Moller,
I read this response to your article about the Senate race:
"I met this reporter Moller before. He’s at the Capitol Bureau and I visited them at the Baton Rouge 4/15/09 Tea Party. He actually tried to tell me that McCain’s pick of Palin for VEEP cost him."
If this statement is the truth, then the word is out on the Internet that your reporting is certainly not to be taken seriously.
Grey
Moller's response:
Grey,
I have indeed made such a statement, and the reason I did is because it happens to be true. The selection of Sarah Palin unquestionably hurt McCain's campaign.
Check the pre-election NBC/Wall Street Journal poll for yourself:
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/081021_NBC-WSJ_Poll_Released-b.pdf. According to this poll, 55 percent of respondents didn't think Palin was qualified to serve as president and 47 percent had a negative view of her (vs. 38 percent positive). In early September, her positive-negative ratings were 47-27, suggesting that the more voters learned about Palin the less they liked her.
You could also read NYT/CBS poll:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/oct08e.trn.pdf, which showed that 59 percent of likely voters didn't think she was qualified for the job. The same poll found that nearly one-third of voters said the vice-presidential selection was a major factor in their vote.
Elections are decided by voters in the middle -- not the hard-core partisans on the left and right who make up their minds far in advance. The evidence is clear that Palin did nothing to bring these voters into McCain's camp, and probably drove them toward Obama.
If you think I'm wrong about this, I would welcome any evidence you can cite to support your case. Thanks for reading (and writing).
-Jan
__________________ Jan Moller
state capital bureau The Times-Picayune
(225) 342-5207-direct (225) 892-0271-cell (225) 342-1132-fax
This is my response to his response:
Jan, You don't actually believe those polls? Wow, say no more, can't wait to get this up on the site! Thanks Grey --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bureau Chief for the Times-Picayune, Robert Travis Scott is the only one of their reporters that should have any attention paid to him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.