With the Republican nomination race ramping up instead of wrapping up, Louisiana politicos are lining up behind the three main candidates in advance of the March 24 preferential primary and the battle for state delegates that will go on from there. If Romney or Gingrich hasn’t knocked the other out by Super Tuesday, March 6, and if Paul continues picking up delegates, especially in the caucus states, the race could intensify between Louisiana’s March 24 primary and the June 2 state convention, where the state’s 46 delegates to the Tampa convention will be chosen. So far, nearly all statewide-elected Republicans and those in the congressional delegation are staying on the sidelines, as is Gov. Bobby Jindal, now that his early choice, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has dropped out. The lone exception is Congressman Rodney Alexander, who is state chairman for Mitt Romney, as he was in 2008. Former Congressman Bob Livingston is closely involved in his longtime friend Newt Gingrich’s campaign. Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, is state chairman for Ron Paul.
—With only 45 months to go before the next governor’s election, Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain and Sen. Gerald Long, R-Natchitoches, say they are looking at making the race. Republican Strain is the more decisive, telling The (Monroe) News Star he will likely run, and LaPolitics that he “is putting a team together.” “I love what I am doing,” he said at the start of his second term, adding that he is “looking and thinking ahead.” Sen. Long says he is “actively thinking about it, (but) not out there promoting it.” While he expects a crowded field, Long sees an opportunity for a lesser-known figure, especially if no one else from north Louisiana runs.
They said it: “I make people uncomfortable.” —New Public Service Commission Chairman Foster Campbell on why colleagues passed him over before, in The Advocate
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
