Branding vs party building

Louisiana Democrats don't have a lot to look forward to as far as next year's gubernatorial election is concerned. Maybe that's not an entirely unhealthy situation for them.  It could be an opportunity to start over, rebuild a party from the proverbial grass roots, focus on the things that matter to the poor and working class Louisianans they claim as their traditional constituency.

This would mean finding candidates who agitate for living wages, for eliminating corporate welfare from the state budget, for restoring a healthy Gulf Coast, for affordable health care for everyone, for reliable flood protection and affordable flood insurance.   This is an opportunity to find people who are actually doing this work and put them on the ballot.  Maybe you won't elect a Govenrnor this time around, but you might build something more like a party that can deliver real results in the future. The Louisiana Democratic Party as currently composed is moribund; corrupted by money and oil; useless to anyone outside of a shrinking circle of elites.  Burn it down and start over.

Of course, the "party insiders" are hoping to do exactly the opposite of this.

If Mary Landrieu were to enter the race for Louisiana Governor, she would join an already crowded field of established political heavyweights, including Senator David Vitter, Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne, former Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, and State Representative John Bel Edwards. Currently, Vitter is the presumptive frontrunner, and Edwards, who announced his candidacy in February of 2013, is the only Democrat in the race.

“There is only one way next year’s elections become competitive for down-ticket Democratic candidates,” a prominent Democratic official told me, also on the condition of anonymity. “We need a Landrieu at the top of the ticket, preferably Mary.

 Sure, good luck with that.