Can't get out of their own way

The state Democratic Party would have us believe that one relatively unknown first time candidate is single handedly holding them all hostage.

Handwerk said several other Democrats were interested in running for treasurer but that it is difficult for a Democrat to get into a runoff if more than one member of the party is on the primary ballot; the Democratic candidates split the party vote. Edwards made it clear that he intended to stay in race, regardless of who else entered it.

"Leading up to qualifying for the Louisiana treasurer race we had several interested folks, but we all knew it wasn't viable to have more than one Democrat in the race and Derrick Edwards was already running and one of the first to qualify," Handwerk said.

That is ludicrous. Either run a bigger name candidate or back the one you have. If the reason there's only one Democrat is because there can be only one then, for chrissakes, you need get behind the one. These were your rules to begin with. Live by them. 

That isn't what they're doing, though. Instead they're out working to elect a Republican.

At least a handful of high-profile New Orleans Democrats appear to have decided that (State Senator Neil) Riser is an option, possibly because Schroder has made clear he will probably attack John Bel Edwards' budget and tax proposals if elected. Schroder also withdrew his support last year for state Rep. Walt Leger, D-New Orleans, in the House speaker's race, rubbing many New Orleans Democratic legislators the wrong way.

Thus state Sens. Troy Carter, Wesley Bishop and JP Morrell, all Democrats from New Orleans, organized a free-lunch meet-and-greet for Riser at Dooky Chase's restaurant Tuesday. Bishop's involvement is particularly noteworthy, as he is vice chair of the state Democratic Party.

They say they're doing this because they think Riser "is honestly running just to be Treasurer," instead of turning the office into a trolling platform the way John Kennedy did for 17 years. Riser hasn't actually said this is his plan, though.  As we explained yesterday, there's really not much of a point to just being Treasurer. People run for this office because it leads to things.  That the Democrats can't get out their way in time to seize an opportunity like that and build their own party's strength is no reason to pretend otherwise.