"Of more than 92,000 votes cast throughout the 13 parishes of this district, it appears that our campaign has fallen slightly short. I will not ask for a recount of any of the paper ballots, and I offer my warmest congratulations to Dr. Fleming.
"Over the past 10 months, I enjoyed getting out every day and
listening to and talking to the people of this area. It has been the highest honor to serve as the Caddo Parish District Attorney for the past three decades and I look forward to exploring ways in which I may be of continued service to this great community.
I'll have a post-mortem on this race in a bit. It'll be explosive, I can promise you that.
Congratulations to Mr. Fleming ... hopefully, he won't marginalize himself by introducing his insane 23% sales tax idea as a bill in Congress.
So, newly-Republican state Treasurer John N. Kennedy has taken the first steps toward a 2008 Senate challenge to Senator Mary Landrieu, as he announced yesterday by e-mail and via a message on his circa 1997 Geocities website.
To kick off his campaign, I'd suggest the media ask two questions of Treasurer Kennedy:
First, Kennedy has demonstrated incredibly mercurial career goals, always seeming willing to better-deal his constituents for the next gig down the line. As Landrieu adviser Norma Jane Sabiston reminds us: "John Kennedy, the first candidate in the Republican primary field, ran ads just four weeks ago saying 'the job's not done' and asking for Louisianians' support to 'continue to be your state treasurer.'" Why should Louisiana voters offer him a six-year job when he never seems happy to complete his four-year jobs?
Second, in response to his willingness to offer Halliburton no-bid contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he said: "Well, in an emergency situation, you do what you have to do to get the job done." Similar to allowing Halliburton's no-bid contracts as "doing what you have to do to get the job done," would Kennedy also support extreme and illegal measures such as waterboarding and other torture, warrantless wiretapping, and suspending habeas corpus "to get the job done" against terrorism?
One of the reasons that it's important for Democrats to field a candidate against Treasurer John N. Kennedy in his 2007 re-election bid is to get him to answer questions like "If elected, do you promise to serve your entire four-year term?" and "If you plan on running for another office next year, why should voters elect you to this office this year?"
Why is that important? Treasurer Kennedy has a history of flip-flopping on his career goals. In 2003, as Treasurer, he flirted with the idea of running for Governor, but "abruptly" dropped out in favor of a Treasurer re-election bid, "a move that angered some donors." Then, just three months after being re-elected Treasurer, he was willing to junk that role in favor of his first failed Senate bid in 2004, a race in which he only garnered 15%.
And then, earlier this year, he of course danced between another re-election bid for Treasurer and a run for state Attorney General, another office for which he had earlier run (in 1991) and lost. And now he is swapping Parties, in what appears to be the politically expedient maneuver.
The bottom line is that it is clear that Treasurer Kennedy is always ready to trash his current role to climb the next rung on the ladder and better-deal whatever office he currently holds. Ambition in and of itself is not a bad thing; but when it trumps integrity, then there's a problem.
(Oh, it's on. It's gonna be Landrieu v. Kennedy for the Senate. The only question I will ask of the erstwhile Treasurer is "Are you going to run for the Senate, and if so, doesn't Louisiana deserve someone who will be our FULL-TIME Treasurer?" - promoted by ryan)
Six weeks after Louisiana's highest ranking elected Republican, Senator David Vitter, made it clear that he cheated on his wife with prostitutes, the state's Treasurer, John N. Kennedy, declared that "I have concluded that the Republican Party is the party that best reflects my values today." Some great values, huh? Treasurer Kennedy is now a Republican, which heightens expectations that he will challenge Senator Mary Landrieu in 2008. Hopefully Democrats will run a credible candidate against Kennedy, if only to get him on the record with answers to questions like "If re-elected, do you promise Louisiana voters to serve your full term?" and "If you're just going to run for another office next year, why should voters re-elect you to this office this year?"
"The Republicans, state and federal, see the Landrieu race as a competitive one and, at the moment, I'm not so sure there's a candidate out there," Baker says. "But I can tell you it is nothing I intend to take on."
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., raised more than $1.2 million in the second quarter, her campaign said Tuesday, doubling her fund-raising pace from six years ago as she attempts to fatten her war chest and scare off potential opponents for her 2008 re-election bid.
Receipts over the past three months leave her with about $2.7 million in her account, the campaign said, in what both major parties predict will be a race costing between $10 million and $15 million.
"We're well on our way to building a strong, well-financed 2008 campaign," Ron Faucheux, Landrieu's campaign chairman, said. "We will continue to accelerate the pace as the election draws near."
Louisiana: According to Bob "Count Chocula" Novak, the Republicans may have their challenger to Senator Mary Landrieu:
John N. Kennedy, Louisiana's conservative Democratic state treasurer, is expected to change parties and run against Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu as a Republican at the urging of White House aide Karl Rove, despite harassment from the Democratic-controlled state legislature.
So Treasurer Kennedy shall forever be tagged as "Karl Rove's boy." Last November, Bush's disapproval in Louisiana was already over 50%. I wonder what it is now. I wonder what Karl Rove's is?! I hope Rove comes to Louisiana frequently and fundraises for Treasurer Kennedy - it should be as effective as Joe Lieberman fundraising for Susan Collins.
So what's Treasurer Kennedy's reputation? What's your gut reaction on the challenge Kennedy could offer Landrieu? Any possibility that there could be a Republican Senate primary battle between Treasurer Kennedy and either (or both) Secretary of State Jay Dardenne and/or Rep. Richard Baker?
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.
