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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Wed Jan 22, 2014, 10:17 AM Jan 2014

Vitter Slithers Back to Bayou - America’s Most Contemptible Senator


Michael Tomasky

There’s No Getting Rid of David Vitter, America’s Most Contemptible Senator

After surviving a prostitution scandal and a dead madam, the Republican wants to be the Bayou State’s next governor.


I was once shooting the breeze with a Democratic senator I knew fairly well. This was a few years ago, back when the toxic atmosphere wasn’t quite as hideous as it would become. Just on a personal level, I asked: Who on the other side is surprisingly nice, and who’s just a real prick? I don’t remember the surprisingly nice answers, but on the S.O.B. factor the senator’s response was immediate: David Vitter.

He’s a nasty piece of work, the junior senator from Louisiana. He doesn’t seem to like anybody. He loathes senior senator Mary Landrieu, he detests Governor Bobby Jindal, he despises the media. They all pretty much hate him back. And yet, by merely announcing, he immediately became the odds-on favorite to win the governor’s race in 2015. Why?

The announcement may seem surprising to those of us outside the state, but “this was the worst-kept secret in Louisiana,” a political operative with knowledge of the state told me Monday. Vitter has been holding a series of town-hall meetings and tele-town-hall meetings, signaling the obvious intention.

I’ll get to race handicapping in a few paragraphs, but first let’s deal with the only thing most people know about David Vitter (who has not, by the way, distinguished himself in the Senate in any way). I’ve always wondered: How in the world did he survive that hooker business? Not only did he admit he was a client of Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s escort service. She then went and hanged herself. Not over him personally. Over the whole mess, and staring at serious jail time. But still. Extramarital relations are one thing, with a staffer or a woman of accomplishment; politicians almost always slog their way through that. But here we had the guy calling on hookers, and the dead body of the madam. And Vitter skated through it and sailed to reelection two years later. How?

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/22/there-s-no-getting-rid-of-david-vitter-america-s-most-contemptible-senator.html
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Vitter Slithers Back to Bayou - America’s Most Contemptible Senator (Original Post) DonViejo Jan 2014 OP
I see this happen from time to time, U.S. Senators running for governor. LuvNewcastle Jan 2014 #1
The old timers are getting fed up. Beacool Jan 2014 #3
Thinking About Running For President erpowers Jan 2014 #4
I'm not sure whether he's the most contemptible, Beacool Jan 2014 #2
Louisiana does not hold elections like everyone else does LiberalFighter Jan 2014 #5

LuvNewcastle

(16,820 posts)
1. I see this happen from time to time, U.S. Senators running for governor.
Wed Jan 22, 2014, 10:58 AM
Jan 2014

I don't understand why they do it. I guess D.C. might be a lonely place for Vitter, considering how many enemies he's made, but if you have a safe seat in Congress, you can just coast along until retirement. I'm thinking that the money must have dried up for future Senate races, but he can get the money for a governor's race, so he's going that route. Or maybe Vitter just does what the GOP tells him to do. I can see why Mary Landrieu would run. I'm sure she's tired of having to fight such a battle for re-election every time, but if I was a Senator with a safe seat, nobody would be able to pry me from it, certainly not to go back and be a governor.

Beacool

(30,244 posts)
3. The old timers are getting fed up.
Wed Jan 22, 2014, 01:29 PM
Jan 2014

More and more are giving up the dysfunctional Congress. It's negativity 24/7, particularly since the Tea Party nuts entered Congress.

erpowers

(9,350 posts)
4. Thinking About Running For President
Wed Jan 22, 2014, 03:17 PM
Jan 2014

He might be thinking about running for President. Governors are said to have executive experience, which many in the media look for when someone is running for President.

Beacool

(30,244 posts)
2. I'm not sure whether he's the most contemptible,
Wed Jan 22, 2014, 01:27 PM
Jan 2014

there's several other senators that could qualify, but he's pretty high up on the list. Let him slither back to LA. I just hope that for their sakes the voters of LA don't elect him governor.

LiberalFighter

(50,506 posts)
5. Louisiana does not hold elections like everyone else does
Wed Jan 22, 2014, 03:27 PM
Jan 2014

There is no primary election. Everyone gets to be on the ballot the first go around. If a candidate doesn't receive a majority the first go around then there is a runoff between the top two.

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