Democrats, Republicans vie for 6th Congressional District

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: Apr 7, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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WASHINGTON — When national political analysts talk about the upcoming May 3 election for Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District seat formerly held by U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, one word usually surfaces: Hastert.

Much like the Baton Rouge Republican, the former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert from Illinois made an early exit from Congress, forcing a special election.

The national Democratic and Republican parties poured significant resources in fiercely battling for Hastert’s seat with Democrats surprisingly capturing the long-held GOP prize last month.

Democrats are “cautiously optimistic” once again in Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District, a seat that has been held by Republicans for 32 years.

“I think the 6th District will be a toss-up and very competitive race that Republicans can’t count on winning,” said Charlie Cook, a Shreveport native and publisher of The Cook Political Report in Washington.

The Republican Party spent at least $1.2 million — almost one-fifth of the money it had available — to defend the seat formerly held by Hastert, one many political analysts thought was an easy GOP slot to retain. The Democrats had a political newcomer running in a traditionally Republican district.

Democrats have a stronger candidate in Louisiana’s 6th District with state Rep. Don Cazayoux of New Roads. Cazayoux, who won in Saturday’s Democratic Party primary runoff, has held a state House seat for eight years.

The true test of the election, though, will be whether national Republicans will rally around the 6th District’s GOP nominee, Woody Jenkins, with campaign resources and financial backing.

The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee (NRCC) finds itself in a tough position. They face 24 Republican retirements in the U.S. House of Representatives this November, seats that they must fight to keep. Democrats have only seven retirements.

And the Republican committee is still reeling from the recent revelation that its former treasurer, Christopher J. Ward, may have diverted up to $1 million into his personal bank account. The combination, analysts say, does not bode well for Jenkins, who will face the serious challenge of trying to get national Republicans enthused about his candidacy.

“The NRCC has a lot of seats to defend and they might not have the right candidate,” Stu Rothenberg, publisher of The Rothenberg Report in Washington, said about the 6th District race. “This is not an ideal situation for Republicans.”

An NRCC spokeswoman declined to comment on the Republican Party’s strategy for the May 3 general election. But the committee has already run a Web advertisement and sent out news releases challenging Cazayoux’s voting record on taxes.

And Jenkins, a community newspaper publisher and former state representative who defeated business consultant Laurinda Calongne, has received financial backing in his latest fundraising from conservative political action committees, including $91,500 through the Club for Growth and $5,000 each from the Citizens United Political Fund and The Conservative Leadership committee.
For their part, Democrats got a head start in the campaign.