Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne may well have the best chance of ousting U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu next year, according to polling. But, as those who know him already figured, he would rather run for governor in 2015 than go to Washington D.C., and so last month he took himself out of consideration for the Senate race. With that cleared up, the burning question for Republicans remains: Who will stand down? Republican Congressmen Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge and John Fleming of Minden, both medical doctors, are showing keen interest in running for the Senate, and Cassidy is now in the race. It is an article of faith among Republicans that Landrieu is vulnerable, given the expected lower African-American turnout in the midterm election and a potentially hostile national political environment for the moderate Democrat. They also agree that one strong GOP candidate is better than two, but that’s as far as the agreement goes. Instead, what the GOP has going on right now is the chicken primary. Read the full column here.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
