Two weeks out and Louisiana Senator David Vitter has found himself with a serious primary challenge in the form of former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor.
TPM has this to say (Click HERE for full story)-
Meet Chet Traylor, a former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice well-connected in Louisiana Republican political and business circles circles, who surprised everyone this afternoon by qualifying at the witching hour to challenge Vitter.
Vitter has plenty of money in the bank and, with just weeks to go, time on his side. But Traylor could catch up quickly.
One has to believe that the Furer fall-out might have scared the GOP establishment to pull the trigger to remove Vitter fearing there was enough there to give democratic candidate Charlie Melancon a legitimate shot. Melancon has been really hitting Vitter lately on the Furer issue with a devastating series of web ads, and today a robocall. Local and national media have picked-up the story (ABC might have hit it first actually) and it doesn't seem to be going away.
Here is the latest Melancon web ad using news coverage of Vitter's dodging the Furer questions - http://www.youtube.com/...
Text of the robocall -
Hello, I'm calling today because Senator David Vitter has yet again insulted and disrespected Louisiana women. As you may have seen on the news, even after one of Vitter's staffers was convicted for attacking his girlfriend, stabbing her with a knife and threatening to kill her as he held her captive for an hour and a half, Vitter kept him on the payroll after he was convicted. AND gave him a raise. AND left him in charge of women's issues in the Senate office. Louisiana women deserve better. I've called Senator Vitter's office and demanded Vitter come clean and issue a public apology. You can too. Just press 1 at the end of this message and you'll be connected to Senator Vitter's office where you can tell him this is no way to treat women in Louisiana. Press 1 now to be connected to Senator Vitter's office and ask him why he doesn't respect women.
I have always wondered why the GOP didn't primary Vitter, because any replacement would vote the same party line vote as Vitter without all the baggage. Dems have basically admitted their strategy in going after Vitter would be to highlight his anti-woman views and votes in addition to the prostitution, and this Furer issue they planned on highlighting his vote against Lily Ledbetter equal pay bill and the Sen. Franken anti-contractor rape protection bill.
As for Mr. Traylor, he's coming from the right of Vitter (yes it is possible) as TPM illustrates -
Traylor was the very conservative justice who once wrote in an opinion upholding a Louisiana sodomy law that "any claim that private sexual conduct between consenting adults is constitutionally insulated from state proscription is unsupportable," so you can bet that he'll blast the already conservative Vitter from the right, and draw blood over Vitter's high-profile scandals.
I wonder what former Justice Traylor thinks about a prostitute frequenting married man with a diaper fetish?
Vitter all told will face 16 primary challenges, but Traylor poses by far the most danger to him.
Also worth note State Rep. Ernest Wooton, a republican, has qualified as an independent, and will skip any primary and run in the general against Melancon and whichever Republican comes out victorious in the primary. If it is Vitter, could Wooten syphon off enough votes from Vitter to make a difference if Melancon could get within low single digits?
According to the AP-
State Rep. Ernest Wooton, a former sheriff from Belle Chasse southeast of New Orleans, unexpectedly entered the Senate race Friday stating his frustration over the state and federal government response to the offshore oil spill.
I don't know if this is good news for the Dems though because Vitter might have been beatable, but Traylor will not have the baggage that would have been necessary to give Melancon the outside chance. On the other hand this will force Vitter to spend some of his war chest blasting somebody other than Obama, the Democratic Party or Charlie Melancon. If Traylor attacks on Furer and his prostitution history it could stick as something other than a evil librul smear.
Louisiana Primary will be held August 28th