The poll shows Dardenne, a former state senator and secretary of state who has been the No. 2 elected official for 10 months, leading Nungesser in most demographics: 42 percent to 30 percent among men, 39 to 24 among women, 42 to 28 among white voters and 35 to 25 among African-Americans.
Dardenne's lead looks untouchable:
Faucheux, a former state legislator, said that among voters who have made up their minds, Dardenne polled 59.7 percent to Nungesser's 40.3 percent.
"Dardenne is clearly the favorite here," Faucheux said. "For Nungesser to have a chance to win, it would take a combination of a lot of things."
He would have to peel votes off of Dardenne, and that's not going to be easy to do, and beat Dardenne decisively among independent voters, and that's not going to be easy to do."
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State's race is a lot closer:
In the race for secretary of state, Faucheux said, although Tucker has a 5 percentage point lead over Schedler, that is because of his higher name recognition. Faucheux said with a 55 percent undecided factor in the race, "that makes the final two weeks of this campaign crucial. Either candidate still can win this race.
"Tucker leads Schedler 28 percent to 18 percent in the New Orleans-north shore area, while Schedler leads Tucker 23 percent to 20 percent in Acadiana and the rest of southwest and southeast Louisiana. In the Baton Rouge-central-north Louisiana area, Faucheux's poll has Tucker leading Schedler 27 percent to 19 percent. At least 54 percent of the voters in each area are undecided, Faucheux said.
But the money situations are quite different:
In other statewide races, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser filed a report showing he spent $1 million in less than a month on his bid to become lieutenant governor.
Nungesser’s biggest expense was advertising. Dardenne spent about $318,000 during the same timeframe.
As of Oct. 2, Nungesser had $819,668.99 and Dardenne had $514,296.55 to spend on the remaining weeks of the campaign.
So Billy's still got a big wad to spend for 10 more days. Jay's not too bad off himself, but his slow and stead campaign style looks like it's working again.
As for Tucker and Schedler, the money situtation was a little lopsided:
Between Sept. 13 and Oct. 2, Tucker outspent Schedler by nearly $94,000.
Tucker paid $117,556 to Teddlie Media Partners. Schedler’s biggest expense was $15,000 to 3 Lions Consulting for advertising and marketing.
Tucker had $608,428.53 on hand as of Oct. 2. Schedler had $352,940.55.
We like this ad by Tucker, if only because it's funny:
The state ethics board fined Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne's campaign $2,500 for collecting money over the legal contribution limit.
The Advocate reports the board announced the decision at its meeting last week. It involved donations in a special election for lieutenant governor last year.
Candidates for a major statewide post can accept contributions up to $5,000 per person per election. Dardenne's campaign reimbursed $7,027 to seven contributors whose donations exceeded that limit.
Dardenne's claims that Fayard was flouting ethics rules apparently was a projection of his own situation. Dardenne no doubt needed all the money he could muster to keep up with the Fayard cash onslaught. Dardenne, although well connected in the Baton Rouge money circles, nonetheless is not a champion campaigner (and in fact employs a very limited operation even during campaign season).
Monday marked 90 days until the October 22nd primary election, and therefore meant the first filing deadline for Statewide candidates. Here's a quick rundown of what everyone reported, by race:
Our quick take: Jindal is running away with the money crown this year. He raised a healthy $313k, but more importantly, he continued to dole it out prodigiously. Jindal spent over $1m in the past 4 months, mostly on events, travel and mailings. With only 3 months to the election, he's well situated to combat any challenges and looks virtually unbeatable at this late stage of the game.
Our quick take: Dardenne burned it up over the past 4 months, culling the largest haul of the field with $458,000. Dardenne continues his popularity with the moderate business-first Republican crowd, especially in Baton Rouge. Even with this large take, he still can't eclipse Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser's $1.1m on hand. Of course, Nungesser loaned his campaign a healthy amount, but he's also no fundraising slouch. As a challenger, he'll need a healthy warchest to take Dardenne on. Some might say Nungesser is the Jindal candidate, considering the known unease between the Dardenne and Jindal camps. Nungesser's parish presidency continues to be under cloud of Federal investigation, but otherwise, he should be an aggressive challenger to Dardenne in the fall.
Attorney General:
Buddy Caldwell raises $51k, with $480k on hand.
Joel Chaisson (unannounced) raises $20k, has $139k on hand
(UPDATE) Joe Cao raised $20k, with $104k on hand but loaned himself $100k for the race.
Our Quick Take: Buddy's conversion to the Republican party hasn't exactly set his fundraising operation on fire. He continues to limp along with mediocre numbers, although having $480k on hand isn't bad. Chaisson hasn't even stated he'll be in this race, but if he wants, he could easily match and surpass Caldwell's anemic fundraising pace in several weeks. Trial lawyers will be salivating to elect one of their own, especially one so perfectly pedigree'd as Chaisson.
(UPDATE) Cao's raise was small and not surprising. He's had very little notice in the race, except for his announcement. Throwing $100k of his own money in the race makes some waves, however. Caldwell shouldn't ignore Cao if he's going to have real money to throw at this contest.
Secretary of State:
Schedler raises $79k, $171k on hand.
Hines raises $62k, $205k on hand.
Fayard raised $20k, with $19k on hand.
Tucker, Angelle unfiled
Our Quick Take: The big surprise here is Schedler getting with the picture and starting to actually fundraise. Previously, he was relying on a $150k loan to himself as his sole campaign contribution. Raising $79k for this race isn't that bad, but it also isn't so great either. With only $171k on hand, it's going to be hard to imagine how he'll keep up when Caroline Fayard, Jim Tucker and (possibly) Scott Angelle get cranked up. Speaking of those three, Fayard makes headlines by not raising or doing much of anything positive in the past few months. She was spotted at the LaDemos J-J dinner this past weekend, but her filing still says "Statewide" as opposed to "Secretary of State." Has she still not decided what she is running for? Of course, she announced earlier that she was absolutely getting into the Secretary of State's race, but has she rethought her position now that the competition looks a whole lot stiffer if Tucker and Angelle get in? She'll be able to raise the money she needs, from her own family most likely, later this year, so her fundraising totals don't really mean much. As for Tucker and Angelle, neither have filed because neither seem to have decided that they will run. Tucker is very heavily leaning towards doing so, and Angelle has been said to be very interested as well. But so far, nothing to report.
Just to round out the statewides (all of whom have no announced competition):
Agriculture Commisioner Mike Strain has $431k on hand, $41k raised.
Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has $619k on hand, with $133k raised.
And finally, Treasurer John Kennedy has a cool $1.9m on hand, raising $224k. This will suit him nicely in 4 years when he runs for Governor.
We're less than 180 days from the October 22nd primary. And let's be honest: the only thing we know is that Bobby Jindal is cruising to reelection.
Otherwise, the statewide scene is set of under-funded incumbents and over-confident challengers. All campaign finance numbers are through the reporting date of April 15th, 2011.
First, let's get Bobby's gaudy numbers out of the way:
Bobby Jindal raised $1,723,110.52 since the beginning of the year. However, Jindal burned an equally robust $1,329,024.86. No doubt, staffing a national fundraising operation is staff-heavy, but the majority of charges is for political media. Jindal spent over $150k on mailings (likely fundraising asks) in only 4 months. And he spent more than $800k on statewide media buys for those god-awful "no tax pledge" TV spots. His campaign finance report is over 1500 pages long.
Then there's our old friendJohn Georges. While John might want to be mentioned in the Governor's race conversation, the bottom line is that he is not running for Governor. He cannot beat Jindal, and even a stubborn mogul like Georges knows it. He made a big splash by loaning his campaign account $10m. All the chatter among Democrats pointed to Georges rattling his sabers to take Jindal on. But more than likely, Georges will run for a lesser office. Lieutenant Governor, and even Insurance Commissioner, have been mentioned. If Georges spent half of his self-assigned allowance in either race, he would be a top-tier competitor and even a favorite to win. That kind of money simply isn't going to be available to the Jay Dardennes and the Jim Donelon's of the world.
Speaking of Jim Donelon, the affable insurance commissioner raised over $112k this past quarter, bringing his total to over $505k in the bank. This would scare all but the best financed competition off. Unfortunately, if Georges is thinking about this race, a measly $505k won't be sufficient. Donelon has got to be hoping he can talk Georges out of wanting the job. Otherwise, despite his strong fundraising, he will be swamped.
Moving to the Lieutenant Governor's contest, we can now faithfully report that Billy Nungesser is openly stating he will be a candidate for the number 2 job in the fall. His report says it all:
2. Office Sought (Include title of office as well as parish, city, town and/or election district.)
Lt. Governor for the State of Louisiana
So that solves that riddle, for now (at least until qualifying). Nungesser raised an impressive $374k. More impressive is the personal campaign loan of $500k, making his total Cash on Hand $873k. He spent only $521 raising that $374k, which blows away Jindal's burn rate of $0.76 per $1 raised.
Old Jay Dardenne can't catch a break. First, he faces the best-financed first-time Democratic candidate in history in Caroline Fayard, and then the knives come out for Dardenne the following fall. No fewer than three major candidates have suggested they might take Dardenne on, including Billy Nungesser, Scott Angelle and John Georges. The current Lieutenant Governor raised only $146k this period, and ended with $191k CoH. Not bad for a challenger, but not good for an incumbent. Especially one that will face very well financed competition in the fall.
In terms of disasters, look no further than Tom Schedler. The Secretary of State, and ally of Jay Dardenne, raised absolutely nothing. In any other case, this would look like someone who simply isn't running, but we've all been assured Schedler is indeed going to stand for reelection in the fall. The only funds in the account were those he lent himself in the form of a $150k loan. While that might be a good start, the total lack of fundraising is difficult to understand, especially given the near-open field he had with which to work.
In terms of surprises, no blog could be more surprised than this one to see turncoat Walker Hines raise over $156k on low ($12k) expenditures in his campaign for Secretary of State from an impressive list of heavy-hitters. The absolutely deserted field is clearly playing into Hines' favor here, and his father's arm-twisting abilities have given Hines the necessary jolt to make his campaign seem legitimate. While no one expects Hines to win this race, with little other announced or rumored competition, Hines looks ready to crush a woefully unprepared Schedler in the money race. This race is absolutely wide open, and even a mediocre entry would upset Hines' dominance. For now, however, with fundraising and organizational advantages, Hines seems to be on track to be a player.
And finally, our favorite flip-flopping Attorney General, Buddy Caldwell. Since he decided to swap parties, Caldwell's fundraising has dried up. He only raised $91k this period, and spent approximately $82k doing so. While still sitting on more than $450k, Caldwell looks like he is stuck in neutral. This is a unique opportunity for a Democratic candidate, because with trial lawyers being the backbone of the Democratic fundraising base, an Attorney General candidate with strong support from that group would have no trouble raising the funds necessary to compete. Someone, like, hmm, Senate President Joel Chaisson? Or Caroline Fayard? Or Senator Karen Carter Peterson? Just a thought or two...
Speaking of Ms. Fayard, like Mr. Angelle and Senator Chaisson, none have filed tell-tale 180-pre-primary reports. This indicates no definitiveness on the subject of their candidacies. It only suggests they have yet to decide to seriously fundraise. However, this circumstance cannot continue past June. When the 90-day pre-primary reports are required in July, any sensible statewide candidate will have begun to fill the campaign kitty.
Sources tell FOX 8 News the feds are asking for every contract since 2007, every project work sheet since 2007 and payroll records on a handful of employees.
Nungesser has recently been churning up the waters about a run against Jay Dardenne for Lieutenant Governor. He has skewered Dardenne over the dispersal (pardon the pun) of BP-sponsored Tourism dollars. Nungesser thinks coastal communities affected by the BP spill should receive the majority of the money. We agree. But since the formula was determined before Dardenne entered office, it seems more like Billy is using this as a galvanizing issue to spark his campaign. From the Gambit:
Before leading the Downtown Irish Club's St. Patrick's Day parade as the club's Man of the Year, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser was pressing the flesh with GOP stalwarts at the Jefferson Parish Pachyderm Club's cochon de lait March 15, leading many to speculate he will run for lieutenant governor in the fall against fellow Republican Jay Dardenne.
Nungesser seemed to be picking a fight with Dardenne on March 9 when he publicly groused about Dardenne's distribution of the first tourism payout from BP — $5 million of an eventual $30 million boodle to be spread across all 64 parishes. Dardenne pointed out, correctly, that the deal had been made before he took office in November 2010, and he was just distributing the funds;
Another potential Lieutenant Governor candidate, Scott Angelle, is also in the news. The Big Oil Lobby (no, really) gave Scott Angelle, Department of Natural Resources Secretary, their "Blue Heron" Environmental Award (no, really) for his "tough" and "fair" regulation of the industry. Former Congressman, current head oil lobbyist and permanent slimeball Chris John:
"The secretary has been tough, but fair in regulating the industry," John said. "At the same time, he has been very supportive in his advocacy of the state's citizens who work in our industry and depend on its survival."
Politically, it was a stellar move for Angelle. Of course, preaching to wingnuts and financially-strapped oil field workers doesn't demand a high standard of reality. All red meat, all the time. Angelle is a lapdog for the Jindal Administration, and if Bobby is going to duck out of the Governor's office early, he'd really like to have a toadie like Angelle to take the reigns. That fuels the already rampant speculation that Angelle will enter the Lieutenant Governor's race this fall.
One place Angelle won't have trouble raising money from? The Oil Lobby. And around and around the Louisiana Carousel goes. Since oil slipped out from beneath the bayous, they've been in running the show, one way or another. Meet Scott Angelle, Big Oil's favorite son, and maybe your next Governor.
Now the national political media has picked up on Secretary of State Jay Dardenne's floating of a potential primary challenge to the Sinning Senator:
"I've had a lot of people suggest that I do that. I'd have to raise some money. I may do that."
While I believe that such a challenge is the nightmare that keeps the Sinning Senator continually running to North Louisiana to project the image that he's hard at work up in Washington to take folks minds' off the fact that he wasn't on the straight and narrow back in the day, it's getting awfully late ... and if Dardenne is gonna run, he better start raising money quick. The longer he waits to get in, the less seriously I think his campaign will be taken.
Not only does he not rule it out, he pledges to keep listening to folks. Well, I've been hearing that he's been in northern Louisiana quite frequently over the past few months, and taking the time to meet with Republican elected officials. Rumors are flying that Mr. Dardenne is speaking with those elected officials about putting a campaign team together.
Moreover, the Sinning Senator's strategy appears to be to appeal to the hard-core right wing, or as noted pollster and political strategist Stanley Greenberg calls them in his book, The Two Americas: Our Current Political Deadlock and How to Break It, the F-You Boys and F-You Old Men, which is totally unnecessary unless the Sinning Senator anticipates a primary challenge, and is attempting to ward one off.
One such example of the Sinning Senator catering to the F-You Boys (& Old Men) is his ludicrous assertion that an obscure provision in the Cap & Trade Bill would give President Obama new powers of a dictator; an assertion that even right-wing bloggers @ Michele Malkin's Hot Air took issue with: (emphasis added)
That's not to say that this bill isn't dangerous, but it simply doesn't do what Vitter claims. Nowhere in either bill does the term "climate emergency" appear, which Vitter claims is the lever through which the President will claim dictatorial powers. We need to focus on the real problems of the bill, chief among them that it will kill jobs to solve a problem that doesn't exist, rather than generate false hysteria to answer false hysteria.
Now, Democratic operatives tell me that the Sinning Senator's polling has remained remarkably consistent all year despite a climate that has been absolutely vicious for Democrats in Louisiana. That same polling shows that Vitter's Republican support is weak, and it is weakest up in overwhelmingly Baptist North Louisiana.
What does this mean? It means that if Jay Dardenne were to throw his hat in the ring for the Republican nomination, it'd be a battle royale. And those same Democratic operatives are scared of running against Dardenne - he's a stable, well-regarded elected official with a slim record to run against.
Will Mr. Dardenne run? That's the nightmare that keeps the Sinning Senator running to North Louisiana every chance he gets.
While many other well-known Republicans in Louisiana have passed on challenging the SINator, Secretary of State Jay Dardenne continues to feed the rumor mill:
"I'm continuing to get a lot of encouragement from a lot of people," Dardenne said Tuesday. "I have not decided to run, nor have I ruled out the possibility that I may run."
I don't think Dardenne will challenge the SINator ... but I do think he's a media whore, which is why he continues to encourage speculation that he may run.
This past Saturday, the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee held a meeting in Shreveport. One of the issues on the agenda was whether or not to open up the party primary to Independent and third party members. It was voted down by a vote of 114-5. They even made it one of the bylaws of the Louisiana Republican Party, making it even tougher to change it, as such a change would require a 2/3 vote to open the GOP primaries.
What does this mean? It means that the Louisiana GOP just made it much, much tougher for a challenger to defeat David Vitter in a GOP primary, especially since John Cooksey, and Tony Perkins have decided NOT to challenge the mercurial SINator.
The only potential challenger left standing amongst GOP elected officials is Secretary of State Jay Dardenne. While he has pointedly kept his name circulating in GOP circles by not issuing a Shermanesque statement closing the door on a potential challenge, I cannot see him challenging the SINator, as I believe he wants to keep his powder dry until 2015, when Governor PBJ will be term-limited, providing, of course, that he wins re-election.
All of this leaves Stormy Daniels as the only candidate still seriously considering a challenge to the SINator.
The poll that I linked to earlier on the 2010 Senate race has some really useful information for politicians considering running against Vitter, but also tells about how Louisianans feel about a few of their elected officials:
Candidate
Very Favorable
Favorable
Unfavorable
Very Unfavorable
No Opinion
Net (Fav - Unfav)
President Obama
14%
33%
31%
13%
9%
3
Sinator Vitter
12%
37%
21%
21%
9%
7
Governor PBJ
21%
33%
23%
16%
7%
15
Sec State Dardenne
15%
33%
12%
10%
30%
26
Governor PBJ has a net favorable/unfavorable rating of 15. Only 54% of Louisianans now have a favorable opinion of him, and that's after it was in the 60's for most of last year. Why folks are surprised that PBJ's numbers aren't that hot is beyond me, really. He's had a rough year and a third as Governor thus far:
He is misperceiving the public mood out there ... folks actually want the government to step in and fix the problem. They are realizing that the robber barons of Wall Street caused this problem, not the government. And they also realize that the only entity with any power to rein in said robber barons is ... well ... the government. And his speech last Tuesday night made that crystal clear to Louisianans.
Events like this aren't gonna help, especially when the Governor is committing what they call political suicide in Texas by leaving millions in federal money on the table.
Sinator David Vitter held a "Mardi Gras in December" fundraiser in Washington last week at which Governor Jindal stood alongside the adulterous Sinator in photos for those that paid $4,600 to have their photos taken with the men.
What is more interesting, however, is the list of hosts:
Senator J. Bennett Johnston
Congressman Jim McCrery
Congressman Rodney Alexander
Congressman Charles Boustany
Congressman Steve Scalise
Congressman Bob Livingston
Congressman Billy Tauzin
Congressman Jimmy Hayes
Congressman John Cooksey
Congressman Henson Moore
Congressman Clyde Holloway
Congressman?Elect Bill Cassidy
Lamar expressed profound disappointment with the fact that a former Democratic Senator, J. Bennett Johnston, has essentially endorsed Vitter by co-hosting this fundraiser for him.
Senate Guru made hay out of the fact that Secretary of State Jay Dardenne didn't co-host, which I don't think was that big of thing, since Governor Jindal was also not a co-host. But it is interesting that Mr. Dardenne also didn't show up, whereas Governor PBJ did.
And Mr. Dardenne certainly didn't do much to quell the rumors that he is considering running for the Republican nomination against Vitter in 2010:
Dardenne, who did not attend Vitter's "Mardi Gras in December" event in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night, said the encouragement he's received has come from friends and supporters in Louisiana rather than from individuals in Washington.
But, for now at least, Dardenne said he's happy with his role as secretary of state and he doesn't have any timeframe in mind for making a decision about the Senate seat.
"I haven't done anything to advance a candidacy for the U.S. Senate except listen to people who have encouraged me to run," he said.
But what I take from this is that Congressman Rodney Alexander sees the writing on the wall, and is likely not going to challenge Vitter for the GOP nomination.
As y'all are aware, Gustav made landfall last week, causing most towns in south Louisiana and central Louisiana to lose electricity. What y'all may not have been so aware of is that there were elections that were to be held last Saturday.
This will create a weird election season for us all ... as there will likely be a necessary run-off in LA-02 on the Democratic side and LA-04 on the Republican side, which means the run-offs will be held on Tuesday, November 4th, thus pushing the general election in those contests back to December.
The rest of the state will have general elections on Tuesday, November 4th, including the knife-fights developing in LA-06 and LA-07.
(Edited for quick hit to Louisiana portion ... full piece unedited after the jump! This is why registering voters is SO IMPORTANT. It's not just to ensure that folks register for the first time, but also to ensure that the Registrar of Voters has the RIGHT ADDRESS on file. - promoted by ryan)
In 2000, Florida's disastrous effort to purge former felons from voter rolls resulted in the disenfranchisement of hundreds if not thousands of legitimate voters and clearly influenced the outcome of the presidential contest in that state. History may repeat itself this November with states taking potentially reckless and unlawful measures to clean voter rolls before Election Day.
Project Vote has recently expressed concern to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne over the state's method of removing voters from rolls, as reported in the Times on Tuesday. Project Vote has learned that Louisiana compares voter lists with other jurisdictions, purging voters solely upon apparent database matches of first name, last name and birth date. With millions of people living in a multi-state region, it is not uncommon to find more than one John Smith born on the same day. Additionally, the possibility of human and typographical error that occur in all large databases creates a greater risk of unjustified disenfranchisement.
"A spokesman for Louisiana's secretary of state said that all voters found to have duplicate registrations were sent at least one warning letter and sometimes two, but that the last such actions were done some 13 months ago," the Times reported.
Here's the choice quote from Dardenne's office:
"We're specifically not doing it right in front of an election," said Dardenne's spokesman.
[Comments from Ryan]Thirteen months ago? Hmmm ... that WAS right before the gubernatorial and legislative elections last fall, Mr. Spokesman. Matter of fact, last June ... a mere 4 months prior to those elections. That sounds like right in front of an election, don't ya think?
Oyster over at YRHT caught it, and calls on Dardenne to cut it out.
Y'all must be wondering just what the hell I'm talking about, right? Well, this is a response to Secretary of State Jay Dardenne's use of the word Democrat primary to describe the Democratic primary. I'm sick and tired of Republics using Democrat as an adverb. Until they stop using this bullshit frame, I will call their primary the Republic primary.
Or should I call them Repuglicans? Girly-men? Suggest some things below if you wish.
As y'all know, we had a pretty big election this past Saturday - the entire state government was up for election. I bring this up because there were several malfunctions with the Secretary of State's website on Saturday night ... from not being able to log in, to logging in and being directed to results for (insert Parish name here) Parish when one was looking for the Statewide results, and so on.
Today, The Advocate, in an article that is on their front page, but apparently not online, quotes Secretary of State Jay Dardenne saying:
"We were just overwhelmed."
Oh, really, Mr. Secretary? Isn't your job to be prepared for something that EVERYONE saw coming? I mean, the article expresses wonder at the fact that the Election results page drew some international attention! For the love of God, we have the son of immigrants from India running for Governor, and you're unaware that maybe, just maybe, the website is going to get a ton of traffic?
I understand that you're used to only 50k visits over a two day period at the Secretary of State website, but come on, Mr. Secretary, you should have been prepared for the onslaught of website visitors, even if some 6.2 million hits were recorded according to that Advocate article, especially when you have what outsiders consider a novelty occurring: an Indian-American being elected Governor in a Southern state.
What really gets me is that there were only 27,000 unique visitors at the site when all the problems were occurring, leading me to believe that your servers are in dire need of an overhaul ... especially since the portion of the site that folks were accessing was essentially text. Beef up the servers, Mr. Secretary. It's your job.
The Baton Rouge Advocate and the Times-Picayune, in addition to others, are reporting that Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne was injured in a car accident this morning at 8:22 a.m. on Interstate 12 east bound just past the I-10/12 split.
We here at Daily Kingfish pray for the speedy and full recovery of Mr. Dardenne.
While the 2007 Louisiana Gubernatorial race and 2008 Presidential speculation are probably gaining the bulk of the attention, the 2008 Senate race in Louisiana should be interesting. Mary Landrieu is regarded as the most vulnerable Democrat of the cycle across the country. So, what is the current state of the NRSC and LA-GOP finding an opponent for her?
It's like the LA-GOP and NRSC are standing at a microphone mumbling, "Is this thing on?" While there is still almost 18 months until Election Day 2008, Republican options are slimming awful quickly.
Thanks to the Bayou Buzz, I had an opportunity to read the statement of Louisiana's GOP Chairman, Roger Villere, regarding HB 619, and its alternative bill, HB 575.
He writes regarding HB 619 and satellite voting centers: "But with hundreds of local and statewide elections, the already understaffed poll centers will be thrown into chaos."
He also writes, regarding HB 575, and absentee ballots to all registered voters: "Louisiana has just invested $30 million in new voter machines. With Governor Kathleen Blanco admitting we lack the funds to support our own rebuilding process, this is hardly the time to begin inserting expensive voting measures that are unnecessary. This bill has been strongly opposed by Secretary of State Jay Dardenne on the grounds that it is too quick and too costly," as it would require the mailing of 2.8 million pieces of mail to voters, according to Secretary of State Jay Dardenne.
Ummm ... excuse me? I thought for a second that I was in the Soviet Union. But then I looked over at the LSU Parade Grounds, and saw the American flag flapping in the breeze.
Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, (R-Baton Rouge) in testimony to the House Government Affairs Committee on 2 May 2007 used a racist code word in support of his position to deny Louisianans displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita the right to vote in Louisiana elections.
He was invited to give his opinion on Jalila Jefferson-Bullock's HB 619, which would extend the right of displaced persons to vote in Louisiana elections for the upcoming gubernatorial election this fall.
The code word used by Secretary Dardenne? Chaos.
UPDATE: Don't believe this? Then click here
and go to 2 May 2007, and click on House Gov Affairs. It'll launch Real Player, and in the interest of saving you 3 hours, skip to 2:40, and watch from there.
0 days until the October 22nd primary election, and therefore meant the first filing deadline for Statewide candidates. Here's a quick rundown of what everyone reported, by race:
John Georges. While John might want to be mentioned in the Governor's race conversation, the bottom line is that he is not running for Governor. He cannot beat Jindal, and even a stubborn mogul like Georges knows it. He made a big splash by loaning his campaign account $10m. All the chatter among Democrats pointed to Georges rattling his sabers to take Jindal on. But more than likely, Georges will run for a lesser office. Lieutenant Governor, and even Insurance Commissioner, have been mentioned. If Georges spent half of his self-assigned allowance in either race, he would be a top-tier competitor and even a favorite to win. That kind of money simply isn't going to be available to the Jay Dardennes and the Jim Donelon's of the world. 
Old Jay Dardenne can't catch a break. First, he faces the best-financed first-time Democratic candidate in history in Caroline Fayard, and then the knives come out for Dardenne the following fall. No fewer than three major candidates have suggested they might take Dardenne on, including Billy Nungesser, Scott Angelle and John Georges. The current Lieutenant Governor raised only $146k this period, and ended with $191k CoH. Not bad for a challenger, but not good for an incumbent. Especially one that will face very well financed competition in the fall. 
Walker Hines raise over $156k on low ($12k) expenditures in his campaign for Secretary of State from an impressive list of heavy-hitters. The absolutely deserted field is clearly playing into Hines' favor here, and his father's arm-twisting abilities have given Hines the necessary jolt to make his campaign seem legitimate. While no one expects Hines to win this race, with little other announced or rumored competition, Hines looks ready to crush a woefully unprepared Schedler in the money race. This race is absolutely wide open, and even a mediocre entry would upset Hines' dominance. For now, however, with fundraising and organizational advantages, Hines seems to be on track to be a player. 
nd finally, our favorite flip-flopping Attorney General, Buddy Caldwell. Since he decided to swap parties, Caldwell's fundraising has dried up. He only raised $91k this period, and spent approximately $82k doing so. While still sitting on more than $450k, Caldwell looks like he is stuck in neutral. This is a unique opportunity for a Democratic candidate, because with trial lawyers being the backbone of the Democratic fundraising base, an Attorney General candidate with strong support from that group would have no trouble raising the funds necessary to compete. Someone, like, hmm, Senate President Joel Chaisson? Or Caroline Fayard? Or Senator Karen Carter Peterson? Just a thought or two... 
It just so happened that yesterday was a banner day in a race no one is talking about. 
As y'all know, we had a pretty big election this past Saturday - the entire state government was up for election. I bring this up because there were several malfunctions with the Secretary of State's website on Saturday night ... from not being able to log in, to logging in and being directed to results for (insert Parish name here) Parish when one was looking for the Statewide results, and so on. 
