Dardenne Hits A Million Bucks In Lt. Gov. Race Fundraising
Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne appears more and more like an easy winner in this fall’s special election for Lieutenant Governor, a race initiated when Mitch Landrieu left the position to successfully run for mayor of New Orleans.
Dardenne’s campaign reported today that they’ve raised just over $1 million in total contributions for the special election to fill the vacant seat for the state’s second highest Constitutional office. Dardenne finished the quarter with just over $747,447 cash on hand, and raised over $134,000 in total contributions for the period.
“More and more people across our state are responding to my message about growing our economy and creating jobs through an aggressive plan to strengthen our tourism industry and rebranding efforts,” said Dardenne. “Our success in fundraising and in recent polls is a strong testament to that.”
A WWL-TV poll (performed by Clarus Research, headed by former Mary Landrieu campaign manager Ron Faucheux) Aug. 20 reported that Dardenne led the eight-candidate field with 20 percent of the vote, with country singer and 2007 Lieutenant Governor candidate Sammy Kershaw at 15 percent, St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis at seven percent, Louisiana GOP chairman Roger Villere at four percent and a pair of Democrats – Caroline Fayard and former state senator Butch Gautreaux – at two percent. Some 47 percent are undecided.
Lisa Murkowski looked like an easy winner in Alaska too, right up until the votes were counted. Villere is going to come on strong as the Tea Party groups start promoting his candidacy over the next month. I don't see how anyone can say that someone getting 20% of the vote in a poll looks like an easy winner, especially with half the voters undecided.
Villere is sitting at four percent in the latest poll on the race. He's going to have to poll a lot better than that to be a factor. As for Dardenne, he's sitting on five times the funding of the rest of the field combined – that's going to give him a better shot at the undecideds than any of the other candidates.
Lisa Murkowski looked like an easy winner in Alaska too, right up until the votes were counted. Villere is going to come on strong as the Tea Party groups start promoting his candidacy over the next month. I don't see how anyone can say that someone getting 20% of the vote in a poll looks like an easy winner, especially with half the voters undecided.
Villere is sitting at four percent in the latest poll on the race. He's going to have to poll a lot better than that to be a factor. As for Dardenne, he's sitting on five times the funding of the rest of the field combined – that's going to give him a better shot at the undecideds than any of the other candidates.