Louisiana House Minority Leader John Bel Edwards Saturday hung on to his weeks-long lead, despite a last minute attempt by Vitter to turn the wild campaign into a referendum on Syrian refugees β and on thin claims of danger from a "missing" refugee. Edwards, a Democrat, will succeed Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who leaves office in January following a failed presidential bid. And Vitter will resign at the end of his Senate term, he said Saturday night.
Elected to the House in to replace Rep. Things took a turn for Vitter just three years later, however, when a powerful madam in Washington, D. For months Vitter could not be found on Capitol Hill, and on the rare occasions when reporters spotted him, he would ignore any and all questions. After his self-imposed exile, Vitter slowly began to reemerge into the public light, attending hearings, giving floor speeches and, ultimately, giving a press conference.
And while he was initially dogged by questions about his involvement with prostitutes, they quickly faded in the unyielding stonewall silence from Vitter. And Vitter survived again, overcoming a Democratic challenge in and providing a model for future lawmakers who would find themselves in similarly difficult situations. But Republican observers say Vitter miscalculated not only his popularity with voters, but the political acumen of Edwards.
In many ways it became the centerpiece of the attacks on Vitter, who at first sought to ignore it altogether. But even when he addressed the issue, he was never able to put it behind him. An added, and certainly unwelcome, complication for Vitter was Jindal, who had spent almost his entire second term as governor operating an ultimately futile presidential campaign.
But perhaps even more than his unpopularity, Vitter was hurt in the closing days of the election by Jindal himself. Longtime rivals, Jindal seemed to wage a last minute campaign of his own to sabotage Vitter. Contact John Stanton at john. Got a confidential tip? Submit it here. View Comments. Oops Looks like your browser doesn't support JavaScript.
