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Terrorism and Jihad is Topic for Ascension GOP Roundtable Christopher Holton, Vice President with the Center for Security Policy, a Washington DC-based national security think tank, will be the featured speaker at the Ascension GOP Roundtable, sponsored by Ascension Republican Women. The Roundtable is scheduled for Thursday, March 19th at Noon at Frank's Restaurant, 17425 Airline Hwy. in Prairieville. (11:30: Registration and socializing) For the past 5 years, Holton has focused primarily on terrorism and Jihad as director of the Center's Divest Terror Initiative and Shariah Risk Due Diligence Project. Recently, he completed a "train the trainer" course in educating...

NEW YORK – Insane. Childish. Disaster. And those were some of the kinder comments from political pundits about Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and his response to President Barack Obama's speech to Congress on Tuesday night. Jindal, 37, a Rhodes scholar and son of Indian immigrants, is considered a rising star in Republican ranks and a likely 2012 presidential candidate. GOP leaders, looking for a fresh face for the party's image, tapped Jindal earlier this month for the high-profile task of rebutting Obama's first address to a joint session of Congress. But in both style and substance, Jindal's speech has drawn...

It's all about values... Bobby Jindal was chosen to deliver the Republican response to Obama's state of the union address, at this critical juncture in our nation's history. What does that mean? Two Things: 1) The Republican party is not as dumb as recent events have tricked some of us into thinking. That sounds condescending, I know, but let's not kid ourselves. The idea that Sarah Palin is qualified for anything over the depth of mayor of a medium sized town (which is basically what Alaska is, except with more anarchists), is a laughable one. Conservatives, although I know many...

Note how the Louisiana governor picks apart the porkulus bill piece by piece while simultaneously sounding like what the conservative movement has been hoping for since about 2004. He is reasoned and articulate while sounding highly informed and calm. This dude will be a force come 2012: (VIDEO AT LINK) Palin, Pawlenty, Sanford and Jindal; a nice start to ousting Obama. Via Allah. Update: Ah, the short memory of The One: "What I don’t want us to do, though, is to just get caught up in the same old stuff that inhibits us from acting effectively and in concert. There’s...

This Saturday there is another runoff election in Louisiana's fourth congressional district. Let's hope and pray we win this one as well. Saxby Chambliss's impressive win last Tuesday night renewed my vision for hope and change. Yes we can! Hopefully Gov. Sarah Palin will campaign for the GOP candidate, John Fleming. Sarah rocks! Ask Saxby!

Sarah Please Campaign w/ Jindal in Louisiana Congressional Race (LA-04 run-off on Dec. 6)

Contradicting polling numbers released earlier this week by his Democratic opponent, physician John Fleming (R) put out a new survey that showed him ahead by 5 points in Louisiana’s open 4th district race. The survey showed Fleming led Caddo Parish District Attorney Paul Carmouche (D) 48 percent to 43 percent, with 8 percent undecided. The poll of 140 likely voters was conducted for Fleming’s campaign by Multi-Quest International and was taken Nov. 6-8. It had a 6-point margin of error. The election to decide who will succeed retiring Rep. Jim McCrery (R) will take place on Dec. 6 after the...

John Fleming and Chris Gorman, who engaged in a political slugfest during the campaign, finished in a near dead heat Saturday night in the Republican Party's 4th Congressional District primary. They are headed for a Nov. 4 runoff for their party's nomination. Paul Carmouche was in a tougher-than-expected race in the Democratic Party's congressional primary, leading a four-candidate field but not getting the majority needed to win outright. With all precincts reporting late Saturday night, Fleming and Gorman were less than 500 votes apart out of more than 41,000 cast. Fleming had 35 percent of the vote to 34 percent...

Despite the hoopla of the Democratic National Convention and the great publicity for Democratic nominee Barack Obama this week, he has not received much of a boost in the public opinion polls. In fact, his poll numbers have declined slightly. The pick of U.S. Senator Joseph Biden has been a big failure and has not helped the ticket at all. According to the National Journal, Barack Obama is the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, while Biden is the third most liberal member. Since this ticket is so liberal and the American people are starting to focus on the...

"Today, the LA House of Representatives just spit in the face of the citizens of LA and approved an obscene pay increase (which goes up auto-magically annually without further action) for themselves starting in two week."

Three potential candidates, including a new entrant, into this fall’s 6th Congressional District race sounded a sense of urgency Saturday for Republican recapture of the seat that fell to Democratic hands last month. Republicans lost the Baton Rouge-area district to Democrat Don Cazayoux, of New Roads, in a special election to fill the remainder of U.S. Rep. Richard Baker’s term. The seat, which had been in the GOP column since 1975, will be up for grabs again this fall. Businesswoman Laurinda Calongne and former state Rep. Woody Jenkins — candidates in the race Cazayoux won — told the Republican State...

Despite the hype around the Memorial Weekend gathering in Sedona at Sen. John McCain's ranch, only Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is being given serious consideration for the vice presidential nomination, say McCain insiders with knowledge of the ongoing vetting process. "McCain has gotten a good look at [Mitt] Romney as a competitor and as someone who is running in support of his candidacy, and frankly he can't tell the difference." Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is not considered a serious candidate" http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13271

A group of Republicans said Thursday they are making an organized effort to support the Democratic candidate in the 6th U.S. Congressional District race, state Rep. Don Cazayoux. About 40 people who identified themselves as Republicans who gathered at a news conference to announce the newly formed “Republicans for Cazayoux” said Cazayoux’s values — being pro-life, pro-gun and his ideas for national security — have led them to support a Democrat in the congressional race. Cazayoux, of New Roads, will face Republican Woody Jenkins, a former state representative, in a special election for the 6th District seat May 3. Two...

Thirty-three votes separated Woody Jenkins from a primary victory and what promises to be a potentially hard fought Republican runoff in the Sixth Congressional District. Lobbyist Laurinda L. Calongne sent shock waves across the local political world by narrowly besting former Baker Chief of Staff Paul Sawyer for a runoff slot. Having run a low key campaign, she benefited from an intraparty war between former Baker Chief of Staff Paul Sawyer and Jenkins over the purchase of a mailing list during Jenkins’ 1996 US Senate race. Sawyer contended that Jenkins knew that the list came from former KKK leader David...

Central City News editor and longtime state Rep. Woody Jenkins will seek to succeed Richard Baker in Louisiana's Sixth Congressional District THE DEAD PELICAN has learned. Jenkins is announcing his candidacy today in the Baton Rouge media. Jenkins' 28 years of experience as a legislator from Baton Rouge will likely be a focal point of his campaign, given Louisiana's loss of several key members in the Congressional delegation. According to two polls run in the past week, Jenkins is the most widely known of the potential candidates for the seat. In trial heats against several possible candidates, Jenkins led by...

As has been reported elsewhere today, Fred Thompson's mother is gravely ill right now. Our prayers ought to be with Sen. Thompson, his mother, his wife, and their family. This must be a very difficult time for them. All of this political stuff is of only secondary importance right now. That said, here is what I would do, politically, if I were Thompson: I would just lay low. Just wait. See what happens in Louisiana's caucuses tomorrow. See what happens in Florida next week. See who drops out of the race at some point. And then consider reviving my campaign,...

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...

Karl Rove has been working to convince Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy (D) to switch parties for the 2008 election and run as the Republican challenger to incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) -- widely viewed as the weakest democratic senator up for reelection in 2008. However, according to an email from Kennedy to supporters, he will not be challenging Landrieu, instead choosing to run for reelection this year for State Treasurer. Kennedy ran an unsuccessful campaign for senate in 2004, loosing to scandal-plagued David Vitter. Update: A Political Wire reader emails: "In New Orleans, at least, Kennedy's decision not to...

Assuming, as the polls seem to have concluded, that Bobby Jindal will soon be moving to Baton Rouge, we're going to be in for at least one fascinating contest to fill his 1st Congressional District seat. Gov. Jindal would call the special election, likely in the spring, and the winner would have to run again in the regular election next fall. Four established politicians, two from the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain and two from the north shore, already are weighing the race. Any combination would constitute the first seriously contested campaign in the 1st District since 1999. And lurking...

Without fanfare or national media attention, White House strategist Karl Rove went to Louisiana the weekend before last to woo State Treasurer John Kennedy (D) to the GOP and into the 2008 Senate race against Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA). Republican insiders see Landrieu as the most vulnerable Democratic senator up for reelection next year, but with none of the GOP members of the Congressional delegation stepping up to the plate, party strategists are looking elsewhere. Kennedy has good poll numbers statewide and would be a formidable challenger to the Senator. But it is far from clear that the state Treasurer...