Posted on 12/07/2007 9:40:16 PM PST by Galactic Overlord-In-Chief
I can't link to Ap.org, so I'll break the news: Rep. Jim McCrery told associates Friday he intends to retire rather than seek re-election in 2008, giving us another open seat to worry about.
This one won't trouble us as much as the other open seats will, Bush got 59% of the vote here. Perhaps we could entice Royal Alexander to run. He carried both Caddo Parish (Shreveport) and Bossier City in his failed run for attorney general, which would ensure him of victory if he carried them both in a congressional race. If not him, there may be other state legislators interested in the seat.
I wouldn’t be terribly worried about this seat. If Richard Baker retired, that would be another story.
He’d have been Chairman of Ways and Means, but the RAT takeover robbed him of the post. Sad.
He will have been there 20 years as of this coming April, understandable if he wants to move on and go make some money.
I think we’re seeing, sadly, a replay of ‘96 when a lot of Dems opted for retirement when they believed they were going to be remaining in the minority for awhile. There’s really no excuse for us not to win back a narrow House majority next year under this grossly incompetent and do-nothing rodent leadership (the Senate is another story).
LA-06 also delievered 59% to Bush, and it didn’t seem to slide much toward the Dems in the governor’s race even after all the Katrina refugees ended up there, so that one is generally good for us...unless Democrat Majorie McKeithen who nearly beat Baker in 1998 decides to run again. On the other hand, we’re going to closed party primaries, and Cleo Fields, now out of office, may see an opportunity.
Yeah, like Bush has any credibilty.
WHY are these guys doing this to us??!!!!!!!
McCrery actually was going to leave in 2004, but he was convinced to stay. So this isn’t a big surprise for him.
A sign partly that they don’t believe they’re going to win back the majority next November.
Perhaps he realizes that he’s going to be a target for Larry-Craig-type allegations?
Below is a link to a highly partisan liberal source, but if any of it’s true, McCrery could have been a liability.
http://www.blogactive.com/image_files/1004/advocate/mccrery2.jpg
Nobody cared back when that article was written, but the Larry Craig, David Vitter, and Mark Foley incidents have brought things like this to the forefront.
The Democrats (and groups like C.R.E.W.) are trying to suppress the evangelical vote, and “outing” these guys is the way that they think they can best accomplish it.
Not to worry. We junked the jungle primary for federal offices. We’ve gone to closed party primaries, so the party will have a single nominee. We wouldn’t have lost LA-01 anyway. Even if a Dem got into the runoff, he’d get clobbered.
I think that’s the point - even Bush managed to win fairly comfortably there there.
but the Larry Craig, David Vitter, and Mark Foley incidents have brought things like this to the forefront.
One down, two to go. I hope we can get rid of Vitter and Craig before the election. Both are a disgrace and should leave yesterday. I really wish they would.
After all, the last time a Dem won the seat (Dick Tonry in 1976), he had to cheat to win, and we got it back with Bob Livingston by the Spring of ‘77 when they overturned the results.
Vitter’s not going anywhere, and he might very well win reelection in 2010. LA isn’t likely to toss a guy out because he went to see a hooker. Craig isn’t running for reelection, anyhow, though he ought to bow out early, anyway.
Craig is not running for reelection? I did not hear that. Vitter is married and should not be hunting around for hookers in my opinion. Of course since I am not from LA I don’t have a say anyway.
Yeah, it’s not like Craig stood a remote chance of being renominated. His approval rating is lower than that of AIDS in Idaho. Absolutely toxic (and they know he’s a liar and in major-league denial about his sexual preferences). The GOP wanted him to exit early and give Lt. Gov. Jim Risch (the likely nominee for the seat) a leg up in seniority for the next session.
You’re right in that what Vitter did was wrong, but his wife forgave him (and as long as it doesn’t interfere with his voting record and he promises not to dip his wick in alien areas, I can give him a pass). He was clearly the victim of a specific smear of Republicans by the Larry Flynt Democrat slime machine. Like we believe Vitter was the sole politician who visited that madam in DC. We’re still waiting for those Democrat names, Larry. Where are they ?
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