JBE's governorship

[White Trash]

Doesn't JBE's governorship stand in his path of becoming his party's presidential nominee?
I mean he has to campaign for his reelection for governor in an off-year shortly before the primary process begins - maybe even twice. He would on top of that be running the risk of losing his reelection in that deep red state, which he only won thanks to its extremely unpopular incumbent.
Would you advise him to step down as a governor (in case he runs) so that he can fully focus on his presidential campaign?

Can we dispel with this fiction?

[White Trash]

Doesn't JBE's governorship stand in his path of becoming his party's presidential nominee?
I mean he has to campaign for his reelection for governor in an off-year shortly before the primary process begins - maybe even twice. He would on top of that be running the risk of losing his reelection in that deep red state, which he only won thanks to its extremely unpopular incumbent.
Would you advise him to step down as a governor (in case he runs) so that he can fully focus on his presidential campaign?

Can we dispel with this fiction?

I haven't heard anyone make the opposite case, but you seem pretty smart and probably have a lot more information than I do. Why did he win besides (or even irrespective of) David Vitter's... liabilities?

JBE was the right kind of Democrat for post-Blanco Louisiana. Governor Blanco, despite being elected to a strongly red state, was for the most part a fairly standard Democrat; even by national standards. The only red meat she tossed at conservative Louisianans was a joke of an anti-abortion bill. But other than that, she talked, campaigned and governed like a Democrat.

The only reason she won the way she did was because Louisiana was not ready to elect a guy named Piyush in 2003, no matter how hard he tried to nail the accent.

JBE however, campaigned like a Louisiana Democrat. He didn't have a lot of rallies, or go to big dinners in New Orleans or Baton Rouge. He embraced a very folksy, non-politician persona and had some decently conservative elements to his platform. Yes, Vitter's issues helped JBE, but that isn't the reason JBE won. JBE made very conservative parishes in Louisiana not just competitive, but likely Democrat. These were areas the Democrats had long ceded to the Republicans and figured they could never take back. But Edwards style of campaigning as well as his lack of connections to New Orleans, and general lack of a politician's image, was able to bring cracker country back into the Democratic fold.

[White Trash]

Doesn't JBE's governorship stand in his path of becoming his party's presidential nominee?
I mean he has to campaign for his reelection for governor in an off-year shortly before the primary process begins - maybe even twice. He would on top of that be running the risk of losing his reelection in that deep red state, which he only won thanks to its extremely unpopular incumbent.
Would you advise him to step down as a governor (in case he runs) so that he can fully focus on his presidential campaign?

Can we dispel with this fiction?

I'm not sure it's fiction.

I do wonder how Vitter could be elected to the Senate in 2010 in the wake of his prostitution scandal, but 5 years later be so unpopular as to lose the Governorship and to not seek re-election.

That's what folks who say that JBE only won because of Vitter don't get. Everyone knew since the 2010 senate race that Vitter was a scumbag. Hell, most knew before. And yet he won that. But somehow all of his misdoings catch up to him just in time for the gubernatorial race?

[White Trash]

I am fine with JBE being pro life. If he ran a national contest, he would probably have to take a position like, "I am pro life but realize government can not effectively regulate or stop it".

If he runs in 2020, I would be fully in support of him.

Yeah, something like that. He wouldn't exactly have Planned Parenthood Action endorsing him, but then again neither did Bernie.

He has a path, but he needs to run away from the "Southern Conservadem" image. Hard.

And then run back to it in the general. Even harder.

[White Trash]

JBE seems like a fantastic governor. He kicks ass and I'd be honored to vote for him in the 2020 primaries if he runs, though obviously he won't make it anywhere near the general election.

I was pretty excited about him, until I saw he was solidly pro life.

Next!

Yikes.

I mean, it's a pretty clearcut issue on either side. If you think it's murder, it makes sense to prosecute murder. If you don't think it's murder, it's a simple issue of personal freedom and it's deeply disturbing that people are restricting other people as if they were about to commit murder.

Well, sure, but people who think it's murder should be able to understand why people don't, and people who don't should be able to understand why people do. And Devout Centrist seems kind of fixated on the issue in a way that's...odd for a pro-choice man. (The reason I make such a big deal about it is that I found out recently that my biological father left my mother because she wouldn't abort me and while that didn't actually change my views it made me a hell of a lot more vocal about them.)

Oh I understand why people are pro-life, but I vehemently disagree with them. It's one of the few issues I feel very strongly about, perhaps the only one that actually will make me angry.

It's at least partially because of my Catholic education, but it goes far beyond that. Just so we're clear, I really dislike the pro-abortion eugenic crowd, too.

I really hope that that crowd doesn't exist outside of Atlas.

[White Trash]

JBE is conservative enough to beat Vitter on his own right. A Democrat doesn't win 19 points in Louisiana just because his opponent is an asshole. Remember Vitter won reelection in 2010 by 20 points not long after his scandal. Sure, it's 2010, but his principal opponent was a sitting Conservadem Rep.

Yeah. It's sad to say that Vitter's scandals don't disqualify him in Louisiana. We tend to elect some scumbags.