Dardenne and Angelle for Vitter?

The conventional wisdom has been that David Vitter, after winning in the primary, would be able to count upon Republicans Jay Dardenne and Scott Angelle for their upcoming support, or at least, their supporters.  I’m not so sure of the former.   Both campaigns were disgusted by what they consider to be the dirty campaign lodged against them by Vitter and his PAC.  Jon Bel Edwards and the two became close during the campaign with occasional jabs at one another, but not much more.  Some believe that Angelle’s good showing could help him in an upcoming Republican candidacy for US Senate, if the event that Vitter beats Edwards.  Again, not so sure.  Remember, John Kennedy, Treasurer has been Vitter’s chief surrogate and there has been much talk that he would run for US Senate, which some believe might be the reason he backed Vitter at full-throttle.

Of course, there is speculation that there is the lure of a state position for Angelle and/or Dardenne should Vitter prevail.   Given that Dardenne gave up Lt. Governor and Angelle left Natural Resources, that scenario appears doubtful.  Also, Edwards could attract both to his administration, equally, should either want full employment.

How helpful could Angelle and Dardenne’s support be to Vitter?  Well, keep in mind, both of them have recent large social media and email associations and lists that can be used for an upcoming campaign.   You can expect a full court press to get both into the Vitter camp.  They both also can be neutral.  But, imagine if they did the unthinkable, back Jon Bel Edwards.  Indeed that would cause considerable anger and resentment in the Republican ranks.  Yet, given the anger that both seemed to have towards the Senator, their endorsements of him might ring hollow.  My best guess?  One or both stay neutral.

Election Silliness

Senator David Vitter is accusing Sheriff Newell Normand of wanting to torpedo his campaign by arresting the investigator recording the Normand breakfast party, this past Friday, one day before the elections. 

According to reports, Vitter said, ““Sadly, he’s been on a campaign against me for a long time,” Vitter said. “I’ve reached out to him numerous times about legislation affecting law enforcement and other issues (to no avail). Obviously, (the sheriff’s) motives in the arrest were political. It was a bizarre and silly incident.”

Turnout

Rain or shine, the Louisiana elections for governor should be top on the list.  So many of us are directly impacted by policies and decisions made by the person and team managing our government.  Even before the downpour in some locations, projections were at roughly 40-45 percent.  By comparisons, in the Duke Edwards 1991 election, over 1.6 million people voted in the primary.  The turnout this weekend was over 1.1 million votes at 38.5 percent.   The turnout for the 2010 US Senate race primary was 44.5%.  David Vitter received 715,415 votes but he was the only serious republican candidate.

Lt. Governor’s Race

Only 11,000 plus-votes separated the two in the race between Republicans Billy Nungesser and John Young.  With Kip Holden in the runoff, one might assume a higher black turnout that could help Jon Bel Edwards, the Democratic Gubernatorial candidate.

TV ADS

Already, the TV ads have hit the airwaves.  The Republican Governors Association has bombarded the airwaves with attack aids against Jon Bel Edwards, associating him with President Obama, a theme that David Vitter struck in his speech Saturday night.   Over the past few months, Vitter did not direct any attacks against Jon Bel Edwards since he wanted to face him in the runoffs.   

UNOFFICIAL VOTES

Here is the unofficial vote results from the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office

Team Angelle

Two campaigns really should be noted.  The Scott Angelle campaign ran only four points behind David Vitter.  Jon Bel Edwards came from no-where to attract 40%.  According to Ryan Cross, Angelle’s campaign manager in a Facebook post,  “We fought the good fight and ran a great campaign. We went from 2% to 20%. I couldn't be more proud of Team Angelle.”