In case you missed it on Friday, here’s the list of candidates running for the 5th District congressional seat currently held by Vance McAllister…

Clyde Holloway is on that list, which is perplexing.

Holloway, of course, held that seat from 1987 to 1993. He’s currently the Public Service Commissioner from the district comprising the central part of the state. And he ran last year for the congressional seat, garnering 11 percent to finish in 4th place behind Neil Riser, Vance McAllister and Jamie Mayo.

Clyde Holloway will be 71 years old by the time the runoff election happens for the 5th District race in December. His own political consultant Greg Buisson, we’re told, has expressed the opinion that it’s a mistake for Holloway to run. Holloway’s health is anything but sound at this point; he’s had a stroke, he’s fought off cancer, he’s diabetic and he’s lost his voice due to polyps in his throat.

That said, Holloway has $200,000 sitting in his congressional campaign account as of the end of the 2nd quarter, which is a figure competitive with the field. The thinking, therefore, is that since McAllister, Brown, Dasher, Abraham and Guerriero are all based out of Monroe, or parts nearby, Holloway might be able to ride the fact that he’s based out of Alexandria – the other city of size in the 5th District – into the runoff with Mayo. He’ll just need to turn out as much of that vote as possible while picking off a few votes elsewhere and maybe he can scratch his way into 2nd place.

And with the lack of name recognition the other candidates are struggling with, and the palpable dread the voters have of choosing between McAllister and Mayo in a runoff, maybe he’s right.

On the other hand, the politicos we talked to over the weekend had precisely the opposite reaction. Namely, that adding Holloway to such a crowded mix of Republican opponents of McAllister only dilutes the available support and insures McAllister will make the runoff – giving Louisiana’s 5th District two more years of a “kissing Congressman” serving as an embarrassment to the state without any particular benefit in terms of ideology or competence as a legislator.

Those folks are also more than a little dubious that Holloway’s “Alexandria strategy” is going to do him much good – after all, Tarpley is based in Alexandria and he’s already in the race, and the only poll we’ve seen of recent vintage gave Tarpley nine percent of the vote.

Either way, we have the field for the 5th District race, and it’s a free-for-all just like the one McAllister won last year.