Foster Campbell was sure he was on to something. The Public Service Commission chairman rose at the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner recently to introduce a man who ought to be in Congress, his friend and former colleague in the state Senate, a Democrat who just could knock off two Republican incumbents at once in the merged 3rd District, Dr. Mike Robichaux. “He’s a fighter,” Campbell would say later of the public health and environment advocate who stood up to the oil companies and the governor in his day. So urgent was Campbell’s appeal that the ear, nose and throat doctor from Raceland agreed to seriously consider the race, and he did, quickly to learn that Lafourche Parish is no longer in the 3rd District, as redrawn for the fall election. Legally, that would not stop Robichaux from running in the new 3rd, or any other district in the state, as per the U.S. Constitution, though how that would go over with voters is another matter. Robichaux and his wife briefly considered entering the race in the 1st District instead, where they do live, but finally decided to stick with the life they have and forgo the campaign trail. It’s been that kind of year for the Louisiana Democratic Party. Read the full column here.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
