Did David Vitter rain on Bobby Jindal’s coming out party?  My gosh, you talk about drenched.  And now, the Louisiana Republican party is split into the Vitter and Jindal camps.  Why Vitter chose Monday to make his comeback, only David Vitter knows for sure.  But, after attending the Jindal rally in Kenner Louisiana (a suburb of New Orleans), there was no question that anger was in the air.  One very prominent Republican leader told me off the record that Vitter only cares about himself.  So, why Vitter chose one hour before the Jindal rally escapes many.

But, the elections are a long way away and a week or two from now, all of this might not make any difference.  Now it all makes for great parlor talk and great gossip at the hair salon, but, when the election bells ring, it will be us versus them.  The question obviously is how much damaged goods is David Vitter on the campaign trail should he and Jindal get together and iron out any differences between them.  Time will tell.

Jindal was magnificent in his prepared speech and is a wonderful stump speaker.  He has promised to provide a detailed blue print for governing and he has the infrastructure to make the plans coherent.  In the days of the Internet, these plans do matter.

However, according to Walter Boasso’s campaign, it is the television attacks that make a difference.  According their poll summary (they refused to release the poll although they said they would be happy to provide more detailed information) Jindal’s numbers have dropped by ten percent primarily due to their attack ads of “Cardboard Jindal” and according to Boasso’s campaign, the Democratic candidate has increased his poll numbers by 15 percent after spending 1.5 million on television. 

According to Boasso, his poll shows the following:

“Boasso has more than tripled his current vote since May, moving from 6% to 21% with just four weeks of a moderate television buy. Currently Jindal leads with 52%, followed by Boasso (21%), Campbell (6%) and Georges (1%). One-in-five voters are still undecided (21%).

Not only has Boasso moved up 15 points, the undecided vote has increased by 7 points, from 14% to 21%. The Boasso television has softened Jindal and Campbell’s support and moved some of their votes to the undecided column. (Campbell’s support is down to 6%, from 9% in May).”   The poll was performed by Anzalone-Liszt out of Washington D.C..

John Georges, however, has yet to hit the media and will do so prior to Labor Day.  He cut commercials this weekend.

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One of my main complaints about Jindal has been his perceived un-williness to debate.  According to a top Jindal official, that will change shortly.  Jindal will remain in Congress until recess where he will hit the road with speeches and hit the debates.

While Jindal is a terrific stump speaker, it will be interesting to see how he fares during the debate exchange which normally get most of the attention of the public in the weeks leading up to the election.  Four years ago, he excelled and now he has a few years of going around the state understanding more of the issues. 

One of the areas that Jindal might have a problem is dealing with the swing vote.  During his campaign speech his main target was the Blanco administration.  He blamed her for the Road Home program, but in reality, the failure of that the program falls on the federal government and the Blanco administration. 

Remember, this is mid-July.  The general public is not focused on elections.  For seven days they were focused on Vitter and other matters.  That could continue assuming more shoes drop.  Still, while it is mid-summer, we are still in pre-season.  As one friend told me yesterday, there is nothing positive to discuss in Louisiana except for the Saints which is a real turn around over the past thirty-years.  It would be nice if we would be able to discuss good government, new programs and people returning to the South Louisiana area.  Attacking the current administration and other candidates won’t do that.  Showing and discussing detailed workable plans might.           

I am ready for the new Jindal challenge.