Cao Down?
Emily Cadei reports that Cedric Richmond, a Democratic state representative from New Orleans, will run against Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.). Richmond narrowly missed
Jul 31, 2020205.6K Shares3.3M Views
Emily Cadei reportsthat Cedric Richmond, a Democratic state representative from New Orleans, will run against Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.). Richmond narrowly missed the runoffin the 2008 Democratic primary against then-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), who was caught hiding bribes in his freezer and then stubbornly, incredibly, held on until he was ousted by Cao in a low-turnout December 2008 runoff election. That led to much Republican jubilation, even as it cost them the most flagrant symbol of corruption within the majority party.
Political handicappers have not written Cao off entirely, but any serious analysis of the 2010 election suggests that he’ll lose. Turnout in the December 2008 runoff that elected him was only 66,846, down from almost 164,000 the month before. And Cao only beat Jefferson, who raised virtually no money and offered only the least convincing spin on his bribery indictments, by a three-point margin. The Democrats’ biggest problem here will be their own internal strife and fumbling, as it was in 2006 — when a credible candidate against Jefferson, State Rep. Karen Carter, was opposed by local power brokers who wanted a shot at Jefferson’s seat themselves, and opposed even more strongly by Harry Lee, a now-dead local sheriff angry over comments Carter made in Spike Lee’s documentary about Hurricane Katrina. The video of that press conferenceis well worth watching, especially when Lee snaps at Carter for “running her fat mouth” about Jefferson Parish.
The takeaway from all of this is that a Democratic Party that gets a credible candidate to the general election in 2010, with turnout from the U.S. Senate race against Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), will almost certainly take back this district that voted three-to-one for President Obama. And that takes the GOP a little bit backwards in its quest to gain control of the House.
Rhyley Carney
Reviewer
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