Thursday, April 30, 2009

Republicans target lone Democrat in Louisiana

Louisiana presents an interesting case for Republicans to truly test out their new look in the upcoming election. With Representative Charlie Melancon serving as the only Democrat in the state in the House, I could see this as a place for Republicans to go after a moderate Democrat in a district that is very much conservative. Even though Melancon is well-liked and respected, he does not concede totally to his Blue Dog roots on every issue and has been willing to side with his fellow Democrats on issues of spending. I think that if Republicans so desire they could attack this platform like have begun to do in the state. However, in order to force an effective turnover of the seat, they will need to find a candidate that is conservative enough to win the seat and will please the voters in the district and that is where I see the struggle in their decision to target Louisiana. They already face a significant challenge in getting Representative Cao back into office from his district and unless they can find someone to challenge Melancon they may just be stuck with him unless he decides to challenge Senator Vitter, a case that would pretty much assure a Republican wins the seat.

1 comment:

mlondon said...

Just a clarification, Congressman Melancon is the only Democrat from Louisiana serving in the House of Representatives. Senator Landrieu is a Democrat, and her brother is currently the Lt. Governor of Louisiana.