Tag: Jim Harlan

Below the fold is the e-mail I received from the Harlan campaign celebrating their primary victory in LA-01.

It seems that not only did he beat out Gilda Reed’s vote total from the special election, as we noted in the LA primaries open thread, but he even beat Steve Scalise’s.  Of course, he’s most likely gonna need more than 37878 votes to win against Scalise, but that’s progress at least–quite enough for the DCCC to have put him on its list of Emerging Races.

Not to mention that he has a nifty nickname for his opponent already, “The Mistake by the Lake”.

Hello to all my supporters:

I wanted to tell each of you that I am honored to be your official Democratic Nominee for the 1st Congressional District of Louisiana!

Thank you for all of your support and I hope that on November 4th, our district can send me to represent you in Congress.

The good news is that I am now officially your democratic nominee, and I am proud to have carried this district with over 73 percent of the vote.

The better news is that I received 37,878 votes yesterday! That means more people in our district voted for me in the primary yesterday than voted for Steve Scalise in the special election last May, when he received only 33,867 votes.

This news is just proof that “The Mistake by the Lake,” Steve Scalise is truly the accidental congressman.

Come November 4th, with your support, as well as others throughout our district, my fellow Louisianans will have the opportunity to send me to represent the 1st congressional district.

We still have four weeks, and in that time, I need to your help to make sure that everyone in our district learns about me and what I can do for Southeast Louisiana.

Now is a more critical time than ever, and I need your help.

Can you make a donation of $1000, $500, $250, or even $100. Any amount will help us get our word out.

Along with great news over the past few weeks including the DCCC adding us to the national list of Emerging Races, and CNN declaring that Louisiana has shifted from a Red to a Pink state, I am showing our district that I am the only candidate with real plans and real solutions for our district. The momentum is with us.

Last month, I released my Harlan Hurricane Protection Plan  to protect the long-term survival of our community, starting with putting Floodgates across the Rigolets to keep the storm surge out of Lake Pontchartrain. And with your support, we can push past expectations and win this race for hurricane protection, economic strength, cheaper gas prices, and healthcare reform.  

Your secure contribution can be made  at www.harlanforcongress.com today!

Thank you.

Jim Harlan

The Kitchens Group for Jim Harlan (9/18-21, likely voters, June in parens):

Jim Harlan (D): 31 (15)

Steve Scalise (R-inc): 42 (68)

Undecided: 26 (17)

(MoE: ±4.9%)

In the diaries, Sean Fitzpatrick alerted us to this poll, and we’ve dug up the numbers for all to see.

If there was ever a district in Louisiana that screams “off limits” to Democrats, it’s this one. Its voters defeated John Kerry by 43 points in 2004, and even the Goreacle was stomped here by 36 points four years earlier. A heavily white New Orleans-area district, Democrat Gilda Reed only scored 22.5% of the vote here in the special election to replace Bobby Jinal this May.

But Democrat Jim Harlan, a successful businessman and former D.C. policy whiz in his own right, is giving this one a go, and he’s bringing his own considerable personal resources to bear.

Knocking off Scalise may seem hopeless, but if he can pin the man down and drain some of the GOP’s resources, he’ll at least make the lives of Don Cazayoux, Paul Carmouche, and Don Cravins, Jr. easier.

The full polling memo is available below the fold.

After Steve Scalise won the special election this spring with over 75% of the vote, most Democrats wrote off this election for November.  That is, until Jim Harlan stepped up to the plate.  With a large personal fortune to invest, Harlan has been running one of the DCCC’s “Emerging Races” and one of SSP’s “Races to Watch.”

Things just got a whole lot more interesting.  Via e-mail:

Jim asked us  to send you some secret campaign information asap, before it hits the papers. I think you will be pleased.

Jim has moved to within 11 points of Steve Scalise after starting from 53 points behind. Now, Scalise is 8 points below 50% – a devastating position for any incumbent but a particularly big problem for Scalise who has only been in office since the Spring of 2008 and only won with 33,000 total votes.

Some quick arithmetic points to a 42-31 race.  That’s certainly winnable, especially as Harlan hits Scalise hard on hurricane relief:

Things are looking good in Louisiana.

Cross-posted over at Daily Kingfish.

As of 11 PM CST on July 14th, not one Republican candidate for the House in Louisiana has filed their July quarterly. Five of the 18 Democrats running have filed their reports. Without further adieu, here are those five fundraising reports:

LA-01

Jim Harlan has filed his report. Vinnie Mendoza, a perpetual candidate, has not.

Candidate	Money Raised	Money Spent	Debts	Cash on Hand
Jim Harlan	$595,399.05	$41,020.99	$525,000	$554,378.06

No, the debts is not a mis-print. Mr. Harlan donated his campaign $525,000. For the first time in recent memory, money will not be a reason for the Democratic candidate in LA-01 to lose. It will be because the campaign didn’t do a good job. I doubt that will be the case, as the campaign manager for Mr. Harlan is the same campaign manager that helped Travis Childers

LA-02

There are 8 Democrats running in the primary, including incumbent Congressman Bill Jefferson. Only 2 of the 8 have filed their FEC reports so far. They are:

Candidate	Money Raised	Money Spent	Debts	Cash on Hand
Troy “C” Carter	$51,112	$34,120.01	$87,906.27	-$1,442.37

Mr. Troy Carter is not a serious candidate. The debt is partly from his failed run back in 2006, where he placed fourth in the jungle primary behind the Republican. I’ve corrected the amount raised this quarter from his FEC report. If you click on his name, it’ll bring you to his July Quarterly FEC report, where he reports NO money raised this quarter. But if you take a look at his April Quarterly report, you’ll see that he only reported some $2,188 raised in the election cycle to date column, and nothing again in the this cycle to date column. Mr. Carter, please find someone to teach your staff how to fill out the reports properly!

Candidate	Money Raised	Money Spent	Debts	Cash on Hand
Cedric Richmond	$111,800	$17,895.39	$100,000	$193,904.61

The debt is money that Mr. Richmond gave his campaign. For a first-time candidate for the U.S. House, the first quarter fundraising for Mr. Richmond is impressive. Almost $200,000 in the bank. Right now, he has to be one of the favorites to oust Congressman Jefferson.

LA-03

Candidate	Money Raised	Money Spent	Debts	Cash on Hand
Charlie Melancon	$237,858.13	$52,243.17	$0.00	$1,042,583.14

Since Charlie won re-election by acclamation, as no Republican bothered to file to run against him, he is a prime candidate for the netroots’ Use It or Lose It Campaign. He can easily afford to give 30% of his cash on hand to the DCCC so they can pump even more money into LA-01, LA-04, LA-06 and LA-07 to help us elect the Democratic candidates in those districts.

LA-04

There are 4 Democrats running for the nomination in this district – Willie Banks, Paul Carmouche, Artis “Doc” Cash and John Milkovich. Thus far, only Mr. Banks has filed his July Quarterly FEC report.

Candidate	Money Raised	Money Spent	Debts	Cash on Hand
Willie Banks	$3,267	$8,788.31	$10,000	$11,545.16

The debt is money that Mr. Banks loaned his campaign. He’s having a hard time raising cash, presumably because he’s running against a VERY well-known Democrat in that district, the Caddo Parish District Attorney, Paul Carmouche, who has served in that capacity for I believe 30 years.