Fresh off our e-mail as of an hour ago comes an announcement from state rep Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport), whose potential candidacy as a third Republican in next year’s U.S. Senate race has been the source of some discussion…

Since my name was first mentioned as a possible candidate for U.S. Senate, I have received a tremendous amount of encouragement and support from all over Louisiana and around the country. From the beginning, I have said that I would throw my hat into the ring if that is what was best for Louisiana and my family.

What is undoubtedly best for Louisiana is ensuring that Mary Landrieu no longer represents us in the U.S. Senate. Her unwavering support for Barack Obama and his destructive policies has been devastating to many Louisiana families. From casting the deciding vote in favor of Obamacare, to voting to take away the rights of Louisiana gun owners and her attacks on the unborn, Mary Landrieu has proven that she does not share the values of most Louisianians. For these and countless other reasons, I am committed to her defeat in 2014.

U.S. Congressman Bill Cassidy has already announced as a candidate to replace her in next year’s election. During his tenure in the Louisiana Senate as well as the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Cassidy has been, if not quite a staunch hard-line conservative, at least a solid Republican vote.

In recent weeks, Bill Cassidy has proven something to me and fellow conservatives.

He stood with those of us who care about the future of this country by not giving in to President Obama and the liberal big spenders in Congress. This particular stand was important to me, as a conservative. It showed that Bill Cassidy will fight alongside Sen. David Vitter for serious reforms to our spiraling national debt and do all he can to end the Obamacare debacle playing out in front of the nation’s eyes.

At this point, the entering of another Republican candidate into the U.S. Senate race would serve only to divide Republicans and conservatives at a time in which we need to all be working together to rid Louisiana and the U.S. Senate of Mary Landrieu once and for all. Accordingly, I will not be a candidate for the U.S. Senate next fall.

I support Bill Cassidy’s run for U.S. Senate and believe all Louisiana Republicans should unite around his effort to take our Senate seat out of the hands of an entrenched Washington insider and return it to the people of Louisiana so that our values, not Barack Obama’s, will be represented.

Seabaugh’s endorsement of Cassidy might not be an earth-shaking development, but his status as one of the state’s most solidly conservative politicians does bring some heft to it when he opts to back Cassidy.

His choice to demur as a Senate candidate will also undoubtedly fuel speculation that he’ll be eyeing Foster Campbell’s seat on the Public Service Commission next year. Campbell is ripe for a strong GOP challenge next year given the direction of the state – and also given Campbell’s alienation with many North Louisiana sheriffs over his position on a PSC regulation earlier this year on discounted phone calls from inmates at prisons those sheriffs operate.

In the meantime, the Senate field continues to clarify as a Cassidy-vs-Landrieu race, as one major potential candidate after another declines to enter.