Republican Landry showed he had a political potential when in 2007 he
almost knocked off a very established Democrat state House incumbent for a state Senate seat in
his first foray for elective office, after having worked as a staffer in that
body. By 2010, with the Democrat incumbent of his Congressional district, which
was rumored to disappear in two years due to redistricting, making a hopeless
escape for a U.S. Senate seat, he waxed the field to pick it up, joining a
large number of freshmen fiscal conservatives in the body.
Events did conspire to eliminate the district, forcing him into a
district with another sitting and more senior Republican member, Rep. Charles Boustany, so his entire
congressional career operated in the shadow of having to face a popular incumbent.
Therefore, no separation ever occurred between his bombastic campaign rhetoric
and that of his governing.
But the two were very alike anyway, which had helped propel him to
office. Landry tapped into well the escalating unease that Americans in general
and specifically a majority in his district felt at a huge federal government debt
accumulation far beyond historic norms that increasingly has dampened any
near-term economic recovery prospects, married as it is with the fruits of that
debt being spent in inefficient ways more suited to creating dependency than
opportunity while other, far more effective strategies were blocked by Pres. Barack Obama
and his fellow Democrats. He consistently argued for the opposite, as in criticizing
the recent deal to increase taxes on high earners, continue tax
breaks that pander more than produce, and leave the spending side of the
equation (except for shoring up Social Security through elimination of the
inefficient temporary payroll tax cut that funds the program like a premium)
essentially untouched.
This bombast, however, turned off some potential supporters, especially
when it came to his reelection campaign. Both Landry and Boustany are
conservatives, Landry a little more so but not that significantly. This meant
Landry had to ratchet
up the rhetoric in the campaign to draw distinctions, a move which alienated
some potential future supporters at least for the near term.
That complicates a 2014 potential Senate run against Democrat incumbent
Mary Landrieu, who
whistles in the wind when she urges GOP competitors to “bring
it on.” In a field that could have among Republicans the likes of
term-limited Gov. Bobby
Jindal and more senior and better-known Rep. Bill Cassidy,
Landry will need every contributor, bundler, and organizer he can get and the
rancor in the recent campaign may have dimmed some enthusiasm for him from this
crowd. After a defeat for reelection, politicians need a win, for few ever come
back into equivalent-or-higher office after two losses consecutively as that
gives the impression their time has passed.
Another avenue could be statewide
elective office, and with Jindal’s departure several could open up
depending upon how many of the minor elected executives chase the governorship.
Of the likely ones to come open, perhaps treasurer would be Landry’s best fit,
as he has been a small businessman and certainly can point to his House
experience dealing with fiscal matters and demonstrated fiscal conservatism as assets
here. He’d have to start money-raising anew as state law prohibits the use of
federal campaign funds to be transferred into a state campaign, although the
most recent figures showed he had less than $200,000 anyway in that account,
which may have gone close to zero as a result of the general election runoff of
last Dec. 8, the monetary statistics of which have yet to be reported – another
reason why he might abjure a Senate run when Cassidy, for example, has over $2
million in his campaign coffers.
Regardless, the key for him in any future ambitions is to run for
something at a point where he remains fresh enough in the minds of voters, but
where enough time has elapsed to let subside at least some hard feelings from
his slash-and-burn campaigning. He built a record that gives him a shot at
continuing, and then perhaps progressing further, a political career at a
statewide level, and a campaigning ability and plainspoken style that can win
elections in Louisiana. Now he just must choose wisely, because at this level
it’s only two strikes and you’re out.
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