The race to become Louisiana’s top lawyer has been a dogfight for the past year, but Jeremy Alford notes it has largely been fought outside of public view.
“But with 80 or so days remaining in the primary leg of the election cycle, the contest for attorney general is finally being pushed to the forefront for rank-and-file voters,” Alford writes in his latest column. “Before we look ahead to the pitched battle of politics to come, let’s take a glance backwards instead to February 2011 when incumbent Attorney General Buddy Caldwell switched from Democrat to Republican.”
In making the switch, Caldwell noted at the time that he was “more comfortable with most of what the Republican Party represents locally and nationally.” His decision then was met with just as much media coverage as the call made last week by the Louisiana Republican Party to endorse former Congressman Jeff Landry over the incumbent attorney general, says Alford.
“Caldwell wasn’t expecting to get the nod, but would have embraced it nonetheless,” Alford writes. “He told every reporter the same thing: ‘The state party has never endorsed me before, so it might have been bad luck to get it this time.’”
The endorsement will make courting the GOP base extremely difficult for Caldwell, says Alford, even though his party registration clearly states he’s one of the gang.
“In addition to the party, the business lobby, energy executives and even some trial lawyers are opposing Caldwell’s re-election. But the snub from the party, unprecedented in recent times, stings the most,” Alford writes. “It’s a vivid reminder of Louisiana’s political shade of fire-engine red. Republicans control every statewide elected office as well as the House and Senate. When this transformation was actively taking place over the past few election cycles, the only thing that mattered was that a politician was a Republican and not a Democrat. But now that hordes of them have switched over, like Caldwell, the question has become just how Republican they are in their stances, votes and outreach.”
And yet, Caldwell shouldn’t be instantly discounted, says Alford, pointing to a new poll out from Triumph Campaigns of Mississippi showing Caldwell leading the field with 31% to Landry’s 25%. With a margin of error of +/-2.4%, it was conducted July 27, 28 and 30, around the time of Landry’s endorsement, with 1,543 automated samples.
“Most of all, the poll provides evidence that Caldwell may have to return to his Democratic roots to fend off advances by Landry,” he writes.
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
