Posted on 12/09/2007 8:38:00 AM PST by Clintonfatigued
Louisiana state Rep. Steve Scalise (R) will be a candidate for the special election to replace Rep. Bobby Jindal (R), and he enters the race with some heavyweights behind him.
Scalise told The Hill on Friday that he is running and will likely make a formal announcement in January, close to the Jan. 29-31 qualifying window.
After filing a statement of candidacy this week, he will hold a fundraiser in Washington next week with former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), who held the seat until 1999 and now works as a lobbyist. Scalise also said he has secured two top Louisiana fundraisers for President Bush — Joe Canizaro and Donald “Boysie” Bollinger — for his finance team.
The seat is heavily Republican and should feature a crowded primary field and lots of money, but Scalise is an early front-runner.
Other candidates set to run include Slidell Mayor Ben Morris; state Rep. Tim Burns; and former Gov. Dave Treen. St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis has formed an exploratory committee.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Interesting development.
Not unexpected. He ran for Congress in 2004, but dropped out and demurred to Bobby. He just won election to a State Senate seat, so now we’re going to have to pick that all over again...man this’ll be a busy year here in Jeff. Parish.
I suspect if no other Jefferson Parish candidate jumps in the race, Scalise will be favored. He’ll sweep this area, while Treen, Morris, and Davis split the Northshore vote.
I’ve read that Scalise is good on the issues. Is this true?
I had assumed that Scalise would run-—I’m just so surprised he didn’t announce the minute that Jindal was announced as having won the governorship outright in the jungle primary.
From what I recall from his protracted 2004 run, he’s a solid conservative.
It would have looked bad for him to announce that quickly, he was just elected to his first term to the state senate. That might have hurt his chances if he was seen as office-hopping.
And yeah, Scalise is very good. He even tried to run to Bobby’s right in 2004.
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