"Amid that growing concern, Boustany invited 30 of the most powerful Louisianans living in Washington, D.C., to his home in mid-February to discuss the state and its priorities."
"I called a meeting of Louisiana lobbyists ... to let them know that I'm willing to be the conduit to the rest of the delegation to make sure that we are setting our priorities and all working toward common goals."
As if hanging out with powerful Louisiana lobbyists so they can dictate his agenda was not enough, did you know that Congressman Boustany once attempted to buy an English Title? There was one small problem ... it was a fraud (pdf alert). Apparently, two con artists hoodwinked dumb wealthy Americans like Congressman Boustany that they could buy an English Title, which would give them all sorts of goodies like being called Lord Boustany and a seat to ride in the Queen Mum's 100th Birthday celebration back in the mid-1990's.
Most millionaires like Congressman Lord Boustany would let the money go. But not Congressman Lord Boustany. Noooo.
He went and filed a lawsuit that never went anywhere in Lafayette Parish, and it is available to the public ... I have all three pages of the complaint, but the most relevant one is page 2, which shows how much he paid for the Title - $18,500 - and lists both his name and that of his wife in the pleading, and why they are filing suit.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, a Republican, toes the line against pork-barrel projects, but Cravins argues that earmarks can have a positive impact, especially for a district still struggling to rebuild in the wake of 2005's Hurricane Rita. "How can Congressman Boustany not believe in earmarks for a district that has been devastated by a hurricane?" Cravins asks. "We need the money, and that's a lack of leadership."
... but like most snobbish Congressmen Lords, he is merely against earmarks for us mere commoners, as he will help out his wealthy friends who donate thousands to his campaign according to a Gerald Shields' article in The Advocate entitled Earmarks remain in 'pay to play' Congress, dated June 8, 2008, which is no longer available online:
One of those members is U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette. Boustany last year sponsored an earmark worth up to $1 million for C&C Technologies in the defense spending bill.
Donors associated with C&C Technologies have contributed $20,300 to Boustany's campaign since his election in 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes federal campaign contributions.
I guess we common folk don't have the dough to play on Congressman Lord Boustany's level.
The title of the article in Roll Call, (subscription required) is New Louisiana Poll Worries Republicans. As arubyan noted, the poll shows Woody Jenkins losing by three points to Don Cazayoux, which Roll Call notes:
[Is] not great math to begin with in a district that gave President Bush a 19-point margin of victory in the 2004 presidential campaign and repeatedly sent former Rep. Richard Baker (R) to Congress by large margins.
It gets better for Don when you get into the cross-tabs, but I'd love to know what the margin of error is, so take this with a grain of salt:
Men 55 and older preferred Cazayoux 51 percent to 38 percent, voters who turned out in the special March primary would vote for Cazayoux 53 percent to 39 percent and those voters who said they are definitely going to vote in the special preferred Cazayoux by nine points.
Now, polls are obviously a snapshot in time, and anything can happen between now and the general election, which is being held on May 3rd, so this thing is still fluid. You might see the country club Republicans say, well, we gave it a shot, now we have to make sure we send a GOPer to Congress, so we'll hold our noses and put Woody in there. And the African-American vote may not come out for Don if he wins the runoff. That reminds me, Don still has to win the run-off against his friend Michael Jackson on Saturday.
I expect to see a repeat of what happened in the primary in terms of where the candidates got their votes:
Cazayoux will likely run up the score in the outlying parishes and try to keep it close enough in Baton Rouge that he wins.
Jackson, obviously, will be attempting to run up the score here in Baton Rouge, while garnering enough votes in the outlying parishes to put him over the top.
The runoff is anyone's game ... with the GOTV operation of the campaigns holding the chances of victory for both candidates. I know that both campaigns are busy calling voters, as this GOTV (Get Out The Vote) time, with the voting starting in less than 48 hours.
One of Capitol Hill's newspapers, Roll Call, (subscription required), reminds us that Rep. Rodney Alexander is either the unluckiest man in the Republican Party these days or he is one of the worst judges of character EVER.
Let's recap all the scandals he's been on the periphery of ...
In 2006, one of his staffers, Theresa Mares was caught sending love letters to convicted killer Scott Peterson on Congressional stationary! No need to worry, as Mr. Alexander fired Ms. Mares.
