I agree that Congressman Landry is exactly the kind of person that we need in the Senate. But do you know who also were the kinds of person we needed in the Senate? Woody Jenkins and Suzie Terrell (not so sure that John N. Kennedy would have been that great). Jeff Landry’s political career consists of a defeat in a 2007 state representative race, a victory in the 2010 LA-03 race, and a defeat in the run-off against a fellow incumbent Republican after getting screwed in redistricting in 2012. We need someone with the profile and political skills to defeat Landrieu, who always seems to slip away despite being eminently beatable. She wins by cleaning up in Cajun Country when we run a Protestant, or by doing better than expected in the Protestant north when we run a Catholic. And we have yet tried running someone with several congressional terms under his belt (well, Cook faced her in 2002, but after his stupid “diaper-on-the-head” comment his campaign imploded and he didn’t make the run-off). I think that a Protestant from Cajun Country with 10 years of experience in Congress would finally slay the dragon, and while I’m by no means happy that Boustany outmanouvered Landry by getting LA Republican legislators to keep the Lake Charles area in his district, I’d rather make sure we beat Landrieu than exact revenge. And having Landry return to Congress isn’t exactly a bad result for him—he’s still a young man and affter a few terms could run statewide if that’s his true aspiration.
But if Gov. Jindal wants the Senate seat, I’d defer to him, since he’d win for sure and would make a better senator than either Boustany or Landry.
Roemer attempted a comeback to the governor’s mansion in 1995, after four more years of enduring Edwin “The Crook” Edwards over David “The Klansman Crook” Duke. Voters remorse over throwing him out in the open primary ought to have given him an edge. Indeed, he led in the polls for much of the campaign. Then, State Senator Mike Foster switched from Democrat to Republican and took a big chunk of Roemer votes, and Roemer ended up finishing fourth behind Foster, Cleo Fields, and Mary Landrieu. If Roemer couldn’t win in that kind of environment, he’s not gonna now.
The idea of Landry as my senator would be great, but I’m afraid it would be tougher going for him to beat Landrieu. Her skill has been in finding whatever cracks there are in the opposition and using them to cobble together a winning coalition. While I imagine Landry would clean up in Cajun country, I’m afraid his (very) thick Cajun accent won’t go over well in metro Baton Rouge and metro New Orleans. He might come off as too much of a country bumpkin, and we need suburban votes to overcome New Orleans’ mega-margins for Landrieu. What helped Vitter win outright in 2004 was blowing away his Dem opponents in suburban N.O. and B.R.
Rep. Bill Cassidy of the Baton Rouge-area district might be the better bet. He actually beat a Democratic incumbent to win the seat in 2008, and has been elected to the LA legislature prior, so he’s not a greenhorn. Being known in metro B.R., it gives him a solid base to challenge Landrieu. Redistricting also extended his district toward the Gulf Coast, so he’s been able to expand his name-rec a little. I can’t speak to how he would do in the Cajun south or the Protestant north, but SW LA has mightily turned against Obama and if Landrieu wants to tout her deciding vote for Obamacare (as she has said she’d do), Cassidy could easily turn that to his advantage and nationalize the race.
Of course if Jindal was to run, I think he’d be an even better bet to beat Landrieu. I don’t think the door is closed on that possibility just yet.