The big political takeaway from the annual convention of the Louisiana Police Jury Association this past weekend in New Orleans, says columnist Jeremy Alford, came when all three of U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s challengers in the Louisiana gubernatorial race stood up and walked off stage before a video message from Vitter began playing. Alford says it’s hard to tell which was worse, the snub by Vitter’s challengers or the fact that the audience had also emptied out before Vitter’s remarks had reached the two-minute mark.
“It certainly wasn’t the reaction organizers were hoping for, since Vitter almost always makes an appearance at the annual convention. Moreover, Vitter’s team surely didn’t expect it when they sent a video recording,” Alford writes in his latest column. “That’s the risk a campaign takes when the candidate has to be absent and it chooses a talking picture in lieu of the real thing.”
Vitter made the same call last week for the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans, Alford says, noting technical problems kept the video from being played. And he says Vitter plans to send another recorded message in lieu of a personal appearance at a President’s Dinner hosted by the Calcasieu Parish Executive Committee of the Republican Party later this month.
Alford acknowledges that if any politician—even a gubernatorial candidate—has good reason to miss meetings inside the state, it’s a sitting U.S. senator. He notes Vitter had to skip the oil and gas meeting due to floor votes on the Keystone Pipeline project, and he missed the police jury gathering due to his wife’s birthday.
“But with at least three recorded appearances on the books, one has to wonder if it’ll become a trend this election cycle,” Alford writes. “To revert to cautious handling would be a mistake. But as long as the Senate is in session, it may be unavoidable.”
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.
