LA-04: Democratic D.A. Paul Carmouche Running And Cook Political Report Upgrades Democratic Chances

by: ryan

Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 10:00:53 AM CDT

There is GREAT news out the 4th District of Louisiana today: Caddo Parish's Democratic District Attorney has announced his candidacy for Congressman Jim McCrery's seat. Rep. McCrery announced he would not seek re-election back in December.

Mr. Carmouche has been the District Attorney of Caddo Parish forever, having been first elected back in 1978. Even conservative bloggers believe that Mr. Carmouche would walk away with this seat ... regardless of whom he faces in a general election.

The Cook Political Report (subscription required) upgraded Democratic chances to take this seat from Solid Republican to Leans Republican. Their explanation for doing so is this:

To the South, Democratic Caddo Parish District Attorney Paul Carmouche became the highest profile candidate to enter the race to replace retiring Louisiana GOP Rep. Jim McCrery on either side this week. The Shreveport-based district's politics - it has a PVI of R+7 - suggest an uphill climb for any Democrat running in a presidential year, but Democrats are confident that Carmouche's law-and-order profile will win him necessary crossover support. Already, several well-known Republicans have passed on the race, leaving trucking company owner Chris Gorman as the current GOP favorite. Following in the track of AL-02, this race moves to the Lean Republican column.