LA-06: Qualified Candidates ... by: ryan Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 14:09:32 PM CST According to the Baton Rouge Advocate, State Rep. Don Cazayoux qualified to run for outgoing Rep. Richard Baker's seat today. However, so did State Rep. Michael Jackson, who has yet to even hold a formal announcement press conference that he is running. Nor does he have a website. But he has filed with the FEC, which allows him to start fundraising. So far, we have two GOPers running - former State Rep. Woody Jenkins and health care consultant Laurinda L. Calongne. State Rep. Hunter Greene, at press time, has not filed his papers yet. UPDATE: Another Democrat has already filed his papers to run - a Joe Delatte, a construction worker from Zachary; and former Louisiana Recovery Authority leader Andy Kopplin is expected to file his papers tomorrow, the last day of qualifying. On the GOP side, Rep. Baker's former Chief of Staff, a Paul Sawyer, filed his papers as well. UPDATE II: As expected, former LRA head Andy Kopplin got in the race. Surprisingly, failed State Senate candidate Jason DeCuir got in the race as well. On the GOPer side, a Michael Cloonan of Slaughter, LA also got in. ryan :: LA-06: Qualified Candidates ... Tags: Andy Kopplin, Jason DeCuir, Paul Sawyer, Joe Delatte, Laurinda Calongne, Hunter Greene, Richard Baker, Michael Jackson, Don Cazayoux, LA-06, louisiana, 2008, Woody Jenkins, (All Tags) Print Friendly View Send As Email LA-06: Qualified Candidates ... | 5 comments by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment Mike Jackson and Don Cazayoux? (0.00 / 0) Very nice... if only Rob Marrioneaux and LaFleur would throw their hats in the ring, we'd have the quad behind the last real ethics reform push in LA. (Strange how they're all from the same stretch between BTR and Alec, eh? Something good must be in the water) Well, I think LaFleur is out, on account of electoral district bounds. Still, no complaints about the current field here.   by: Matt D @ Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 05:15:02 AM UTC by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment It worries me, frankly. (0.00 / 0) This is not the open primary process anymore.  It's closed primary, and with two, potentially three, strong Democrats in the race, it can get bloody.   I pray that the Democrats will play nice, and run solely on the issues, but I hold little hope of that happening. "I was against NAFTA and CAFTA, and I'll be against SHAFTA." by: ryan @ Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 17:29:18 PM UTC [ Parent ] by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment Kopplin's running as a Democrat? (0.00 / 0) This should prove interesting (his campaign has apparently started, in earnest, and his supporters were out and about at Spanish Town). I've contended before that LA-06 has always been a potential pickup for the Dems... Unfortunately, I figure Kopplin would be seen as toxic, as most people associated with LRA are. I, at this point, am going to have to sit tight a little while and decide who I'm going to work for on this one. DeCuir has deep pockets, and a pool of ready donors, but I wonder: Much of his strength in the state senate race came from south Baton Rouge whites, and much of that from the Chamber of Commerce/Business Report set. With other guys in the race who have R next to their name, he might see a lot of that financing disappear. DeCuir, from what I can tell, will probably march forward, but I don't feel, at this point, he's got much of a natural base, as opposed to the 'anyone but Yvonne Dorsey' vote. Michael Jackson, of course, can/will take much of the African American vote. Cazayoux, however, definitely picks up a lot of rural whites, who don't mind voting for a Democrat, provided he's 'the right kind of Dem'. I'm surprised Jenkins threw his hat in the ring... as I figured he'd been happy as his 'behind-the-scenes GOP powerbroker' role. by: Matt D @ Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 02:17:33 AM UTC by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment And following on to myself (0.00 / 0) You know, it got me that Rufus Holt Craig (a libertarian Dem, as Kos likes to say), got 19.3% of the vote against Baker in 2004. Mind you, the GOP was still riding relatively strongly that year. But, Craig raised $20k (mainly his friends and colleagues) to Baker's $1.1 million, and still walked away with a respectable percentage. Had the national party stepped in and backed him, who knows what would have happened? In 2006, Fontanesi, a libertarian who raised a whopping $0 (that's right, zero dollars) to Baker's $1.4 million. And, Fontanesi, a candidate with no money, and no major party got 18%. This district strikes me as imminently winnable by the Dems... particularly given the power vacuum left by Baker. by: Matt D @ Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 02:34:10 AM UTC [ Parent ] by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment I'm not surprised that Jenkins threw his hat in the ring ... (0.00 / 0) I've heard that he did so because no "big" name GOPer wanted to do so.  So he figured, I've put in my time, and I can hold the seat for awhile so the party can groom someone to hold the seat for a long time.   Hell, he's already on TV.  And if he thinks he'll be able to whitewash his history, he's sadly mistaken.   "I was against NAFTA and CAFTA, and I'll be against SHAFTA." by: ryan @ Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 21:32:46 PM UTC [ Parent ] by: you @ soon To post this comment click here: Otherwise click cancel. You must enter a subject for your comment LA-06: Qualified Candidates ... | 5 comments

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