Candidates for Louisiana governor are crisscrossing the state today, working the phones and filling the airwaves with their final pitches, hoping to drum up interest from undecided voters for Saturday’s primary election.
The Associated Press reports that none of the four major contenders is expected to top 50% support, so a Nov. 21 runoff will decide which man follows term-limited Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal into office. And the competition to make it into that runoff has been fierce, mainly on the GOP side.
Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter has campaigned as front-runner, but his poll numbers have slipped amid continued hits about his 2007 prostitution scandal.
Republican rivals—Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle and Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne—are trying to peel enough support from Vitter to squeak into the runoff. Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards appears to have locked up a runoff spot in November, with a core base of party support.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. Fewer than half the state’s voters are expected to cast ballots.
Angelle spent Friday touring his Acadiana home region, including a lunch stop at a seafood house in Abbeville. Vitter was phone-banking, sign-waving and door-knocking heading into Election Day, campaign spokesman Luke Bolar says.
Dardenne attended an LSU lunch honoring his son’s business and had an afternoon question and answer session on Facebook scheduled. Edwards also was in the Baton Rouge area Friday, doing phone-in interviews to radio stations, attending Catholic mass and knocking on doors, his campaign said.
The Associated Press has the full story.
