Online Political Strategist involved in American, British and Louisiana politics.
We’ve heard a lot of noise from the Kennedy campaign over the last week about debates, debates, debates. Accusations have been flooding out from Kennedy’s camp that Mary Landrieu is scared to debate, but with very little evidence to support their claims.
Steve Sabludowsky did an excellent job of exposing the Kennedy campaign’s manoeuvrings for exactly what they were, pure political gamesmanship: Read more
Continuing in his role as a high profile surrogate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, Bobby Jindal appeared on ABC’s ‘This Week’.
As part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of money laundering, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier today ordered the Louisiana Senate to hand over copies of under fire State Sen. Derrick Shepherd’s calendar to prosecutors.
According to Roger Villere, Louisiana Republican Party Chairman, at least.
I know they have spoken to him about it,” Villere said. “I know he’s willing to help participate at some high level.
There’s been a lot of excitement surrounding Jindal for quite some time now. Republicans don’t tend to accidentally come across presidential candidates. They take turns. Is this the first stage in the national Republican party’s plan to groom Jindal for the top job in 2012? If so, how will Jindal cope with running for re-election as Louisiana’s Governor in 2011, whilst also traveling the country glad-handing presidential campaign donors.
If it wasn’t clear after he lent his campaign $500k, local Democratic businessman Jim Harlan is committed to unseating newly elected Republican Rep. Steve Scalise. He’s already up with his second TV ad and a brand new website.
As Daily Kingfish points out, Harlan also doesn’t have vendors clamoring at his door to repay past campaign debt. I’d be interested to know who those vendors are? How much longer can Scalise leave those debts unpaid?
Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden has hired one of the most ruthless defense attorneys in the business, Mary Olive Pierson, to refute scurrilous accusations contained in an election year smear letter sent to thousands of Baton Rouge residents.
Pierson provided this choice quote:
The people behind this, they don’t mind blabbering about it. And I’ve got investigators working on the file. These people are about as dumb as a box of rocks.
For more background on this story check out this clip from NBC33:
Rumors are flying among DC insiders that Jindal is about to be offered the keynote speaking slot at the Republican convention.
Yesterday, LA-07 Democratic candidate, Don Cravins Jr., was endorsed by the House Democratic Blue Dog Coalition:
It is clear that Don Cravins shares our commitment to restoring fiscal discipline and commonsense to the federal government, and we are proud to offer him our endorsement today.
Yesterday was a busy day for Louisiana on Capitol Hill. First up was a new economic stimulus and disaster assistance package, which would give Louisiana an extra $3 billion in recovery aid.
The legislation would give Louisiana 30 years, instead of three, to repay more than $1.7 billion as its share of levee upgrades in metro New Orleans; $350 million to help hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi deal with cash-flow issues and other post-hurricane problems; and $75 million to help fight increased violent crime and rebuild police fire and criminal justice facilities.
Secondly, Sen. Landrieu spent a second day castigating FEMA for their poor management and failure to even bother asking the Louisiana Recovery Authority, non-profits or housing agencies if they needed supplies donated to hurricane victims.
Paul Rainwater, executive director of the LRA, said:
Had I known about these supplies, I would have moved to quickly put them to good use.
You can listen to the full hearing here.
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