If you can't join em

They'll beat you.

Republican party leaders on Tuesday endorsed former U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry as the party's choice for Attorney General, but offered no specifics about why they would choose Landry over incumbent Republican Buddy Caldwell.

The choice of Landry over a sitting Republican officeholder is a rare move for the party, GOP Chairman Roger Villere Jr. acknowledged, saying it hadn't been done since the 1991 gubernatorial endorsement of U.S. Rep. Clyde Holloway over Buddy Roemer, who had switched from Democrat to Republican weeks before.

But despite Villere referring to Landry as "the Republican in the race," and as "a registered Republican his entire life," he said the endorsement of Landry had nothing to do with Caldwell's 2011 decision to switch from Democrat to Republican. But when pressed on specifics about why the party was abandoning Caldwell, Villere would only say that Landry was the "the best candidate."