From the Lafayette Independent Weekly:
The national Democratic Party is putting the full court press on state Sen. Don Cravins Jr. to challenge incumbent Republican Charles Boustany in the 7th Congressional District. Cravins, who recently expressed an interest in possibly switching parties to run against Boustany as an independent, says the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been in close contact with him and offered substantial support were he to run as a Democrat. Cravins, along with two other Democratic African American state legislators, Lydia Jackson of Shreveport and Michael Jackson of Baton Rouge, recently stated they were considering Congressional runs as independents, partly because of the Democratic Party’s poor track record of supporting black candidates in major state elections and majority white districts. Cravins saw his father receive little party backing for his Congressional run in 2004.
“I’d like to run as a Democrat,” Cravins says. “But right now, I’m more concerned over the decision of whether I’m going to run or not. [The Democratic Party] has been talking to me about things I really wanted to hear the party talk to me about. I’m going to be traveling to D.C. in the next two weeks and I’ll make up my mind very shortly.” Cravins says he has been contacted directly both DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen and House Majority Whip James Clyburn. While in D.C., Cravins also plans to meet with former Louisiana Senator and 7th District Congressman John Breaux, who also has reached out to him.
LA-07 is an R+7.4 district that’s been held by Boustany since 2004, when a racial split depressed Democratic turnout in the runoff and allowed the seat formerly held by Democrat Chris John to fall into Republican hands.
Boustany walked all over his opponent in 2006. 70%-30%. Obviously Cravin’s would be a better candidate… But you think we would have had to start sooner if we were looking for the same kind of upset we would need against an incumbent here.
But we aren’t going to win this race. There’s a reason why Chris John passed on reclaiming his old seat. Louisiana loves it’s incumbents. Boustany isn’t going anywhere.
Cravins would be a pretty strong candidate and at least keep it close. Also let’s hope it makes Jackson end his independent run. If Don C can win re-election in 2008 and 2010 and become popular he would be a strong prospect to take on Bobby Jindal and if Jindal doesn’t run in 2012 for president and instead runs for re-election in 2011 I think the national party should work it’s tail off to get him to run and spend whatever it takes to take down Jindal. Rove understood that you have to take down up and comers before they take you down. Jindal could very well win in 2016. He is likable, young, minority, charismatic and also ultraconservative. He would be a disaster if elected and he would stand a VERY good shot. If he lost the governors race it would be hard for him to recover.
AGAINST this idea, i think we should wait to hear from ryan(daily kingfish), to get his thoughts from the ground(i’m not convinced that this seat is a lost cause); his insights can be helpful here
As I’ve said before, we need to be running more strong African-American candidates, especially (but not exclusively) in districts with large African-American majorities. Otherwise, we invite the kind of defection that Cravins, Jackson, and Jackson have discussed.
unles jindal screws up, it’s unlikely he’ll lose. i say prep Donny Cazy to run for sen in 2014 if Mary L retires, or 2016 if vitter is still in the senate. if mitch “riyuzaki” L. defeats vitter in 2010 (if he runs, which he better) then run cazy against bobbo. (i love giving politicans weird nick names)
Maybe this is wishful thinking, but can’t the African-American candidate with the Democratic Nomination, running in the nearly 70% white district that is the United States, give Michael Jackson a call at some point and tell him to let Cazayoux keep that seat?
It’s worth noting that Cravins Jr. has been quoted that he’d consider running for this seat as an independent (I forget exactly which publication ran that interview, but it was fairly recent). He apparently has concerns about the Democratic brand in the region, and as a conservative Democrat isn’t sure he fits with the national party. Given the Alexander debacle in North Louisiana I think that merits a bit of concern.
And while I don’t know much about Jr., Cravins Sr. was awfully friendly with a lot of people/causes who weren’t friends of progressives or open-government when he was in the State Senate. Maybe his son’s politics are different, but I don’t think a lot of people here would be that excited by such politics.
All that said, SW Louisiana is an area which elects Democrats to local office and should be able to elect one to Congress. Based on the political culture of the region it should be friendlier to Democrats (it was home to Edwin Edwards, John Breaux and Kathleen Blanco) than the Baton Rouge area (where Caayoux just won).
he could win w/ big AA turnout and the tarnished GOP brand. and he would be a very important answer to those who say that the DCCC is not supporting AA candidates.
the DCCC supports the most electable candidate, and cravins, like cazayoux and childers, is electable, partly because he is more conservative than national democrats.
From the Baton Rouge Advocate and the Daily Advertiser.
I like the guy. He’s not exactly my cup of tea, but then again, few pols in Louisiana are … they are more conservative for my taste, and few of them have the backbone to stand up to the conservative business interests and fundies that currently run our state.
That being said, Cravins, Jr. would be a very good candidate to run for that seat. However, I am concerned about his idea of how to run for that seat … he wants to “out-conservative” Boustany.
I penned a response to that comment over at Daily Kingfish.
We are concerned about AA politicians running as independents and effectively giving seats to the Republicans. Shades of Ralph Nader!
Lydia Jackson would be a great Democratic candidate in northwest La. Michael Jackson has been threatening to run as an independent in the 6th and there is talk of former Congressman Cleo Fields is considering doing the same thing in Mary Landrieu’s race. Such grandstanding egos! We need Democratic unity, espcially this year.