We see in the poll that you have 33% that will vote for the Dem nominee, even if it was Mickey Mouse. Polling I saw some time ago showed Vitter and Dardenne competitive with each other.
The danger is that if we end up having a runoff between a Conservative and a RINO, the Establishment wing and the Democrats will combine forces to elect the RINO.
With respect to the Lt Gov race, Billy Nungesser came very close to beating Jay Dardenne in 2011, so he may have the highest name recognition (despite hailing from tiny Plaquemines Parish). Young is from populous Jefferson Parish where he is the Parish President.
Guillory may be popular with us, but he may not be considered viable with party voters, unfortunately. He’s also 71 this year, which places him as the oldest candidate. I’m loathe to bring it up, but race might be a factor (clearly there are some people that won’t vote for a Black person for whatever reason). I wish he was getting what Mayor Kip Holden (the Black Baton Rouge Democrat) is, and Holden is less than a decade younger than Guillory, but looks even younger.
Voters might be considering the person to succeed Vitter (or Dardenne) in 2023 for Lt Governor, so they would wish to go with a younger candidate. Another alternative is that Vitter appoints Guillory to his Senate seat, about as audacious as Gov. Nikki Haley appointing Tim Scott to DeMint’s seat. It would give him time as an incumbent to establish himself with the voters. Despite his age, it is worth pointing out both Guillory’s parents lived to about 100 (and his mother was still alive as of 2013 at 104), which means as long as he has his faculties, could serve at least a dozen years in DC (until 2029, the end of Vitter’s term plus 12 years) when he’d be just short of 85.
Although I prefer younger Senate candidates, in the case of exceptional older individuals, I can support them.
Nungesser has moved to Lafayette Parish and is no longer Plaquemines Parish president.
Kip Holden looks like the Chicago journalist Clarence Page, right?
That was my first thought when I saw Guillory at 2% in that poll: “Well, hw won’t have to worry about having to quit as Lt. Gov. a few days into his term if he’s named to the Senate. I still think that it makes sense for Vitter to resign his Senate seat a few weeks after he’s elected governor and have Gov. Jindal name his replacement in the Senate.