Everybody Hates Vitty

Last night in previewing the Governor's race we mentioned some of the intrigue last month over recruiting a spoiler Democrat to enter the race and keep John Bel Edwards out of the runoff. If you don't like Gomer, but you're sure he can't win in a runoff, why even bother with this?

Well, for one thing, everybody.. including many Republicans.. really don't like David Vitter so they'd prefer to have another Republican around to vote for in November.  And for another thing, people dislike Vitter so much that this gives credence to the theory that Edwards really might win.

The belief all along has been that any Republican would be favored if he got into the Nov. 21 runoff with state Rep. John Bel Edwards, the only Democrat in the race. Democrats haven’t fared well in running for statewide offices.

Recent polls have indicated that might not guarantee a Republican victory. Edwards is running an effective campaign and is doing well in the polls. Some GOP voters we have spoken with have said casting a ballot for Edwards wouldn’t be a problem if Vitter were his opponent.

Uh oh.  Right now Vitter ally Boysie Bollinger is lining up money to support legislative candidates who pledge to enact new "tort reforms" that further immunize businesses like, say Bollinger's shipping or other oil field and offshore services concerns from pesky lawsuits like, say, the one the levee board tried to bring against oil and gas companies last year.

Bollinger's group likely prefers Vitter. But they'd settle for anybody but Edwards who they see as a potential disaster for them. Word is they've tried like hell to run a patsy Democrat to keep Edwards out of the runoff. If they can't do that, how do they deal with their Everybody Hates Vitty problem before it's too late?