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.
Also Vitter supported what the GOP did for Thad Cochran next door in Mississippi. Flip him the finger and let him go. What goes around comes around.
That's it.
In the Deep South Democrats run whoever they think can win, and it doesn't have any effect on the Democratic Party at the national level.
It's sort of like with Republicans in the Northeast, though it's been going on a lot longer.
Diapers? Hadn’t heard THAT. They need to lock him in the nuthouse.
No, part of my point is what you said: Vitter had stupid ads. The connection to Obama was mentioned, but never majored, as the prostitution angle was, and were of the rapid fire, nothing standing out variety. Vitter seemed whipped during the last debate.
David Vitter somehow manages to lose the Louisiana governor’s office
DUH! He paid for prostitutes!
What else is this scum doing?
Get him out of office pronto!
I fully expected adverse opinion on this and was prepared but, have one response:
John Roberts....
We expected one thing and found a man who contrives his deceipt cloaked in law...
Thus far, this new guy has demonstrated a certain independence, which I am guessing he may continue on important issues....
Crossed fingers....
The Republican Lt Governor won by an equal margin over the Dem.
I think it was all about Vitter.
*********************
About how I see it.
The Lt. Gov. and State Attorney General races went to the GOP candidate by about the
same percentage that Vitter lost by. Thus in statewide races Vitter was the polar
opposite of the other two races. Sounds like a candidate problem rather than a blue
dog dem problem.
“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.”
It doesn’t matter
Edwards is still a member of F*G*T-F***ing, Baby Killing, Old folk murdering party.
He can talk about his “faith all he wants. You cannot be a Christian and be Democrat
Had Vitter done that, it's quite possible that Bush would've signed an amnesty bill near the end of his second term. Politics is ugly business, always has been.
Yep. I think the Louisiana voters were perfectly all right with Vitter representing them in D.C. Out of sight, out of mind, no real problems with his legislative performance. They just didn't care for the idea of him returning home and being the face of state government.
I wonder if Vitter had anyone conduct an opinion poll on this before he made the decision to seek the governor's office?
“Had Vitter done that, it’s quite possible that Bush would’ve signed an amnesty bill near the end of his second term. Politics is ugly business, always has been.”
Well, he’s gone now isn’t he. If he’d managed to keep his fly zipped up, he might well be a sitting governor now.
Don’t know about Vitter’s polling but there were polls done which he had access to.
Scroll down a ways and you’ll see several.
https://ballotpedia.org/Louisiana_gubernatorial_election,_2015
I held my nose as I voted for Vitter....
Yup. Vitter's campaign sucked. He should have easily defeated John 'Bel' Edwards the leftist faux conservative born with a silver spoon in his mouth; the son of a former corrupt governor. Like Mary Landrieu, Edwards should have been handily defeated; however, there was no excitement there, no attack, no consistent differentiation espoused by Vitter. As Trump would say, Vitter was low energy, very low energy
Looked up Denham Springs, I never knew that their was an interstate 12
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.