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.
Reports came out yesterday that Louisiana Family Forum head Tony Perkins is considering, yet again, running for the Senate. This time, however, he'd be running against Sinator Vitter and presumably, Stormy Daniels, in a Republican primary.
This would be quite an entertaining threesome primary ... a hypocritical Sinator who likes to commit the crime of prostitution, all the while pontificating about family values; an up-from-the-bootstraps gal that has moved from being a porn star to being a producer of adult films; and a religious political wanna-be that has associated with unsavory characters in the past:
Sinator Vitter once again calls for a resignation. Unfortunately, it's not his own, but that of Illinois Senator Roland Burris, for:
Vitter said that Burris "clearly, at a minimum, misled the Illinois Legislature and the voters of the Illinois" by giving incomplete answers about his contacts with and fundraising efforts for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) as Blagojevich was considering appointing Burris to the state's Senate seat.
[When asked about his own sex scandal, he replied]: "I honestly don't know anybody who would compare these situations. They are dramatically different."
Dramatically different? Sinator, clearly, at a minimum, you misled the voters of Louisiana about your family values in every single campaign you have ever run!
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.
Hmmm ... desperate attacks? Lies? I call bullshit. The link brings you to the agreement between Louis E. "Woody" Jenkins and the FEC regarding the fraudulent campaign finance reports filed by Woody's 1996 campaign. It states:
6. After the 1996 primary election in Louisiana, David Duke contacted Woody
Jenkins and recommended that he use the services of a computerized phone bank system run by Impact Mail. Jenkins purchased several rounds of calls from Impact Mail. After the first round of calls, Jenkins began hearing complaints that Duke's name would appear on the caller ID when a phone bank message would arrive. At that point, Jenkins tried to cancel the transaction but was unable to because Tony Perkins, his campaign manager, had signed a contract with Impact Mail. Subsequently, Jenkins instructed Perkins to put a stop payment on the check issued to Impact Mail and directed that Impact Mail be paid through Courtney Communications, the campaign's media firm. The Jenkins Committee issued three $27,500 checks Courtney. Courtney, in turn, made out three checks in the same amount to Impact Mail. The treasurer of record, Michael A. Tham, states that he was unaware of the specific transactions with Impact Mail when he entered the information on the disclosure reports. In the case of the first check, Mr. Tham simply assumed it was for TV advertising.
7. The Jenkins Committee contracted with Impact Mail for computerized phone bank services. Jenkins acknowledges that Impact Mail provided the services to the Jenkins Committee. Courtney Communications was not involved in the provision of services by Impact Mail. Jenkins decided to make disbursements for the services through Courtney Communications because he did not want his campaign to be associated with Impact Mail and did not want Impact Mail listed on the Jenkins Committee's disclosure reports.
Yep ... in 2002, he signed that paper that admitted he bought Duke's list of supporters and phonebanked them. Now that he's running for Congress, he's hoping y'all don't notice.
But seriously, do we really want to have a Congressman who believes this:
As late as the year 1900, the majority of Americans owned their own businesses, which in most cases was a farm. People lived on farms. They had their own dreams. There were no limits. They were not employees. Employment was a rare thing. Americans viewed employment, in their historic memory, much like serfdom.
There was something special about being a farmer. The mother would raise the boy until he was five, six or seven years of age. Then the boy would go with the father to plow the fields, to work with the animals. They were together all day, hour after hour, year after year. And the father would talk to the boy and share with the boy everything he believed. He'd tell the boy what to think about God, what to think about his country and its political leaders, what to think about other men, and what to think about women and how to treat them. Over the years, the boy would come to believe everything the man believed.
For generation after generation in America, we had great stability because we passed down, from one generation to the next, the wisdom of the past.
I just got a robo-push-poll call from Virginia "enligtening" me about Mary Landrieu's voting record (didja know she wants to kill babies and turn Iraq over to terrorists?) and asking, given all of that, how I felt about Tony Perkins vs. Senator Landrieu. Sad to say, I wasn't real impressed with Perkins.
