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A tough new campaign landscape for Sen. David Vitter
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Race
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| Contributor | Brandonius Maximus |
| Last Edited | Brandonius Maximus Jul 14, 2010 05:22pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| Author | Stephanie Grace |
| Media | Newspaper - New Orleans Times-Picayune |
| News Date | Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:20:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon's backers for Senate can't seem to get enough of the story about incumbent David Vitter's former aide, fired last month after the political world learned he'd been arrested two years earlier for detaining, threatening and stabbing a woman. Since the news broke that Vitter had not only kept Brent Furer on, but had assigned him during that period to handle women's issues, it's practically all the Democrats have been talking about.
Along with Vitter's own women's issues -- stemming from his reluctant 2007 admission that despite years of family values posturing, he had patronized a Washington, D.C., call girl ring -- Democrats clearly hope his handling of Furer adds up to a defining issue. It's too early to say whether it will. Still, the episode highlights just how much has changed since the last time Vitter faced voters, and how many weapons are no longer in his arsenal.
Throughout his career, Vitter won voters' allegiances by playing the truth-teller, the straight-arrow to Gov. Edwin Edwards and his clubbier legislative colleagues. During his first campaign for Congress in 1999, one supporter summed up Vitter's appeal this way: "I've had several politicians tell me they don't like him. I don't like them."
It's been a while since anyone extolled Vitter's ethics. Also gone is any pretense of intellectual consistency, another former calling card. |
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