NEWS ROUNDUP: Vitter Limps Along
NEWS ROUNDUP: Vitter Limps Along
Vitter ‘deeply wounded’ during primary, ‘fighting for his political life’
Sen. David Vitter, once considered the “presumed favorite” in Louisiana governor’s race, saw very unimpressive returns during the primary election, barely managing to secure a spot in general election after receiving a mere 23% of the vote.
Political analysts – in both Louisiana and Washington DC – agree that Vitter emerged from the primary ‘deeply wounded’ and struggling to unite the Republican Party for the runoff.
Check out the media’s reaction to Vitter’s dismal performance:
Baton Rouge Advocate: “Edwards received 40 percent of the vote — far ahead of projections.”
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Vitter was “a distant second with 23 percent” and is viewed as “a more vulnerable candidate because he is disliked by voters outside of his conservative base.”
AP: “The race largely came down to personalities – and a referendum of sorts on whether Vitter’s eight-year-old prostitution scandal still resonated with voters.”
Politico: “Vitter … is deeply wounded,” and the general election showdown against John Bel Edwards “has the scandal-marred second-term senator again fighting for his political life.”
New York Times: Vitter “barely squeaked out a second-place finish in Saturday’s primary election for governor,” and Vitter’s “underperformance may be due in part to the re-emergence of the 2007 revelations that Mr. Vitter had been involved with prostitutes.”
WAFB-TV: “This cannot be considered a good night for David Vitter. He is far behind and the momentum for Senator Vitter has not been good.”
WVUE-TV analyst Mike Sherman: “David Vitter has to improve his favorability and make himself palatable. John Bel Edwards is sitting on great favorability ratings over 60%, David Vitter’s unfavorability rating out-tops his favorability.”
WDSU-TV: “David Vitter does have a past, and that past reared its ugly head during the past couple of days.”
WAFB-TV: “It’s been a very dirty campaign so far, and you haven’t got the feeling that a lot of Republicans wouldn’t support him.”
WVUE-TV: John Bel Edwards “Made the race about integrity and he is going to start going after David Vitter’s Achilles heel, his weakness, which is integrity.”
WWL-TV: “Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was the margin that John Bel Edwards was able to put together in the governors race. He has a 17 point lead over David Vitter.”
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