Within hours of each other – probably
not entirely coincidentally – a rerun
declared himself out of the contest and another semi-rerun
inserted himself into it. Given his showing last year and the apparent ease
at which he raised money. Had he chosen to try again state Sen. Neil Riser at the very least would have
made a runoff and become the likely winner. His deferral leaves the field
presently absent of any heavyweight, and wide open.
Eschewing a prize well within
reach can lead to plenty of idle speculation as to why. Mentioning a
non-specific opportunity in the future, it could be risking a losing run, or
even a run in general, might devalue or make more difficult his ability to
pursue that, possibly connected to another political elite wanting to enter to
contest. Only time will tell upon Riser’s subsequent actions and who else gets
in the race what his main motivation might be.
In the meantime, the lead duck of
the district’s anti-D.C. flock Phil Robertson and son Willie found a candidate
to support – Phil's nephew drug rep Zack
Dasher. Rather than jump into politics in the breach as the reality
television stars did with current Rep. Vance McAllister – somehow being
convinced McAllister was sufficiently anti-politics-as-usual and pro-clean
living and thereby buying onto his candidacy, only for the Duck Commander
family and friends to discover after his win that the married McAllister was
stealing smooches from a staffer married to somebody else – this time the flock
seems to have tried doing its homework first and who better than one of the
clan to push forward.
But not only did McAllister’s
antics take a seat safe for him for life and throw it into jeopardy, it also
poisoned the well for exactly the kind of candidate Dasher represents.
McAllister positioned himself as being a successful businessman but political
neophyte and proud outsider of Washington that could articulate what the common
man outside the bubble wanted. Dasher, well, looks to be positioning himself
as, if perhaps not an independent businessman, a political neophyte and proud
outsider of Washington that can articulate what the common man outside the
bubble wants, and can even tell you that it’s more Godliness.
The latter probably isn’t in
dispute, but we see how well it worked out last time someone got put in with
the same assumed characteristics. And whereas Riser’s opponents last time lambasted
him as a cat’s paw to Gov. Bobby
Jindal and establishment/professional Republicans everywhere and thusly
deserved rejection as a tool, to some in their minds the Robertsons will become
the great Satan this go-around.
Yet with Riser now out and Dasher
now in, these developments perhaps encourage the author of the coming
donnybrook, McAllister, to reconsider
still further his decision not to run when the scandal broke. He may think
without Riser to suck much of the oxygen out of the contest and with Dasher to
further divide up the evangelical vote, which he already lost the moment the
locking lips video hit the public consciousness, that he has more room than
ever to pull off the victory.
Besides that scenario being
largely wishful thinking, although not entirely impossible, McAllister
continues to do everything possible to make it less possible. Only recently did
he make a bizarre allegation that votes on the floor of the House were for sale,
and that he had inside information as to how it worked. That the events
he described seemed highly implausible he did not seem to consider as he
eagerly spun the yarn.
Except somebody seems to have
taken him seriously. While best known
for preferring to make specious partisan arguments, the gadfly,
left-leaning Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has sent out one of its frequent
and usually ignored fatwas targeting
McAllister or whoever clamoring
for an investigation of his blather. Naturally, the House will do nothing,
and even if there were some truth to this there’s no guarantee it would act.
However, it serves to make
McAllister look less than upright. After all, here’s a guy who may have
knowledge of who knows how many felonies committed by Members of Congress, but
he won’t blow the whistle and retires into a curious omerta after letting the cat out the bag. If he has the temerity to
reverse course and to run for reelection, no doubt one or more competing candidates
would make inquiries of him as to why he is shielding corruption. Which, if he conjured
all of this, only puts him in an even more awkward position.
But yet provides more comic
relief for a contest that somehow doesn’t yet seem to have entered into a
serious phase.
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