Kennedy: Party irrelevant to bid for Senate seat

• By SARAH CHACKO
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 9, 2008 - Page: 9A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Touring the state to push his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, state Treasurer John Kennedy said running as a Republican, after years as a Democrat, is inconsequential to his campaign.

Kennedy ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 2004.

“Party has never been the most important thing in my life,” said Kennedy, who switched to the Republican Party last year.

Kennedy, a Zachary native, stopped in Baton Rouge as the second part of an 11-stop bus tour across the state.

The primary election to select each party’s candidates is Sept. 6. The general election between party and no-party candidates is Nov. 4.

Kennedy said he worked for two Republican governors as a Democrat and also opposed policies of Democratic state leaders, including former Gov. Kathleen Blanco and former state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom.

Louisiana Victory 2008, a nationwide campaign to get Democrats elected, called Kennedy a “political opportunist.”

The state Republican Party responded with a release saying incumbent U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., was inconsistent in her stances on tax cuts, the expansion of domestic oil drilling and President Bush’s judicial nominations.

Landrieu is seeking her third term.

State Sen. Bill Cassidy, who spoke before Kennedy took the stage in a conference room at the Holiday Inn Select, said Kennedy would revitalize the Republican Party and bring it back to its roots.

“I am glad John Kennedy is a Republican,” said Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, who is running for the U.S. Congress.

Kennedy said his endorsement of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., for president in 2004 was a mistake.

“I wish I had it back,” Kennedy said.