Why even bother nailing the coffin?

The GOP is already looking toward 2012.

Oyster long anticipated Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's tiptoe to the Iowa Caucuses. He is now the confirmed keynote speaker for a prominent Christian conservative fundraising dinner, as reported by the Politico's Jonathan Martin.

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza reads into Governor Jindal's last-minute endorsement of dead horse Senate candidate John N. Kennedy, characterizing it as rare partisan foray designed as a test of his power as a kingmaker. Cillizza speculates that if Kennedy somehow wins or loses by a slight margin, Jindal will greatly bolster his reputation on the national level.

The Reduct Box also reported recently that Supriya Jindal has joined John McCain on the campaign trail. I'll add that Cindy McCain indeed gave her a special hat tip during her warm up speech in suburban Philly on Tuesday morning.

But Governor Jindal certainly won't be alone on the campaign trail.

Habitual boogieman Rudolph Giuliani has already opened up JoinRudy2012.com, according to Pandagon. Maybe he'll actually campaign this time.

One could argue that Sarah Palin is only on the ticket as a test-run for 2012 anyway, since she's clearly worthless to McCain this time around. It really is amazing that she finds time to explicitly criticize her running mate's political tactics amidst such a busy schedule of unintentional and embarassing incompetence.

A Senate Toss Up?

Political pundits and prognosticators have again and again cited the Louisiana Senate race between Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican State Treasurer John N. Kennedy as the GOP's only realistic chance of knock out a Democratic incumbent in their quest to prevent a filibuster-proof majority. Yet, by and large, there has not been extensive media coverage of the Louisiana race comparable to other swing Senate races around the country. The reasons for that may seem obvious at first-glance.

The Alaska race features the progressive former mayor of Anchorage, Mark Begich against the longest serving Republican Senator, Ted Stevens, who may be as likely to face jail time as he is to see another six years in office. The Colorado contest between progressive Rep. Mark Udall and Abramoff-connected, oil-pocketed Bob Schaffer has largely been a laugh-fest for those of us on the left. The insurgent campaign of Rick Noriega in Texas against arch-conservative John Cornyn and the seemingly unlikely viability of Ronnie Musgrove against Republican Senator Roger Wicker in Mississippi have captured a good deal of attention because of their symbolic implications.

Further, Louisiana political campaigns traditionally receive relatively little national attention because pundits admittedly don't understand the state's electoral structures, to say nothing of the colorful personalities that routinely defy the nation's sense of rational thought.

Nonetheless, considering the importance of this Senate race, I do feel as though coverage of this race has been seriously lacking.

And the specific reason for that may become glaringly apparent by the end of this quick primer.


Incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu has established herself as a big swing vote, consistently rated as amongst her chamber's most moderate members. While progressives often decry her caves on FISA, the Iraq War, oil, etc., it is clear that she has aptly positioned herself to bring bacon home for her state. Whatever your feelings are on earmarks or pork-barrel legislation, it is difficult to argue that Louisiana doesn't need or deserve as much federal help as it can get.

Then there's John Neely Kennedy, the State Treasurer.

In 2004, when Democrats were working to save the open seat vacated by longtime Senator John Breaux, John Neely Kennedy was a Democratic candidate. He couched himself as the most progressive option in the primary, running to the left of eventual nominee Chris John. He even gave an enthusiastic speech introducing John Kerry, whom he endorsed, at a campaign event in New Orleans.

Still a Democrat and still the state treasurer well into 2007, the Louisiana GOP seemed to be struggling to find a candidate to run against the effective Landrieu. Top Bush advisor and possible convict Karl Rove made a special trip to meet with potential challengers. At the time, Stuart Rothenberg (see link), noted that Rove's eroding stature may have rendered him an ineffective recruiter, especially for a Democrat.

Yet John N. Kennedy was somehow convinced and a few short months later, switched his affiliation, ignoring not only all of the foibles of the GOP during the Bush administration, but also constantly updated national poll data reflecting overwhelming public dissatisfaction. In November of 2007, just five weeks after being reelected State Treasurer, he announced his intention to run against Landrieu.

Since then, he has run an inarticulate and unenthusiastic campaign. His inability to raise money in reputably ruby red Lousiana forced him to call in George W. Bush to Katrina territory for a fundraiser in late March.

The Daily Kingfish crunched the numbers when the 2nd quarter fundraising totals were released. The Bush fundraiser alone accounted for over one third of Kennedy's meager haul. Without Bush's help, Kennedy would have raised less money in the 2nd quarter than he did in the first.

Meanwhile, Kennedy has awkwardly masked his party-hopping and flip-flopping by just gobbling up GOP talking points with little regard for fact. Last month, he took one of the more insulting routes possible, repeating the GOP-derived myth that "not one drop of oil" spilled during Hurricane Katrina ignoring that the talking point is patently false. While that may put you in the good graces of John McCain's campaign, it is awfully insulting to the people in your own state that survived the storm and are still learning the extent to which our eroded environment contributed to the strength of the storm and the extent to which the storm has eroded the environment.

Then, after slamming Mary Landrieu for an appearance with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg because of Mr. Bloomberg's progressive stance on social issues. That is ironic for a couple of reasons. First, as Oyster from Your Right Hand Thief points out, Kennedy has had trouble deciding how much he'd like to associate with sex-scandal marred Republican Senator David Vitter. After taking campaign money from Senator Vitter, he refused to answer whether or not he would be accepting Vitter's appearance on the campaign trail. Then he decided to indeed schedule a joint appearance at the end of August. The second interesting point to note about that is that Senator Vitter was once regional campaign chair for former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who is a well-known liberal on the same social issues for which Kennedy panned Bloomberg.

Just last week, the Daily Kingfish made another interesting observation about a Kennedy radio appearance - he was reading his policy on oil shale nearly verbatim from a wikipedia entry.

So with a filibuster-proof Senate majority on the line, the GOP has pinned its only hope of defeating an incumbent on a guy that isn't even properly prepared for softball radio interviews.

One would think that national GOP operatives would be really promoting this race in the media or working the right-wing fundamentalist roots for donations or activist assistance. But they're not. Not at all.

Maybe it's because not even the local GOP seems interested in this race.


This is John N. Kennedy kicking off his campaign bus tour to his most loyal supporters:



Here is one of his events in Alexandria, another critical population center:



Here is John Kennedy speaking to a quorum of supporters at another appearance in Houma:



So it's no wonder the national press doesn't have much to say about the supposedly-critical Senate race in Louisiana, neither does the local GOP. They're not exactly lining up to greet the man. Additionally, since John Kennedy has proven not to have much to say for himself, it looks like Mary Landrieu might not have much of a race on her hands after all.

The Department of Homeland Security

was almost helmed by this man, had The George W. Bush had it's first choice.

Hizzoner's good buddy.

We Americans Love Our Guns

Polly Thomas of Metairie is running for State Senate. She's going to be tough on crime.
From the Times-Pic:

The specter of crime, and the memory of her own close brush with it, turned state Senate candidate Polly Thomas of Metairie into a pistol-packing grandma who showed her hardware during a recent candidate forum.

While addressing members of Crimefighters Inc. on Oct. 5, Thomas pulled a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol from her handbag to dramatize the point that she will be tough on crime if elected to represent the 9th District.

Jeez. People be crazy since the storm.

The stunt went over okay, people didn't duck or run for the doors, but she didn't get the endorsement she was seeking.

Since Rudy Giuliani is hoping to earn the support of the NRA, maybe he should have busted out his Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol instead of answering a phone call from wife Judith. If his campaign was really smart, they would soon reveal that Rudy's third wife IS a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol. They like to stay in touch.