We’ve said for some time that the dynamic of the 5th District congressional race between state senator Neil Riser and Monroe businessman Vance McAllister would revolve around McAllister’s ability to cast himself as an acceptable conservative, but also someone who could position as just to the left of Riser.

And with Obamacare being THE issue in American politics this fall, it falls to McAllister to be the “reasonable” candidate on that law; that’s why he has said if it was up to him he’d repeal it, but since that’s unlikely we’re going to have to work with Obamacare to make it better.

But every day things get worse with Obamacare’s implementation, and it starts to become obvious that the whole thing is untenable. That puts McAllister on something of a cliff.

This morning, Riser opted to try to push him off it…

We love political ads with animals. They work really well. And the potential of reptiles in campaign spots is thoroughly underused – GEICO blazed that trail, and Riser’s campaign has followed along nicely along it.

It’s not all bad news for McAllister today; he managed to get Clyde Holloway’s endorsement last night, and that means he’s got the support of both the 3rd-place and 4th-place candidates in the race. Between Jamie Mayo (15 percent) and Holloway (11 percent), McAllister has the potential to have pushed his share of the vote into the 40’s. That assumes the electorate for the Nov. 16 runoff will be the same as it was in the primary, of course, which is a flimsy assumption, and it also assumes Mayo and Holloway can deliver their voters to McAllister – something we can’t predict with any certainty.

Holloway’s endorsement wasn’t exactly the “I’ve gotten to know Vance McAllister and boy is he a superstar who could be governor one day” variety, either…

Holloway said the main reason for his choosing McAllister over Riser were rumors the latter was tipped off early to Alexander’s resignation so he might amass a campaign team ahead of the other candidates.

Jindal, Alexander and Riser all denied the allegations.

“I know Vance McAllister will be beholden…to the people of this district and not be led around by the governor or simply follow the money or the power,” Holloway said, according to the Monroe News-Star.

“I am not saying anything today that I have not said during the past three months,” he added. “All indications are that King Jindal and his political friends tried to anoint a congressman for the people of the 5th Congressional District and rig an election to put into office someone who simply takes orders from Bobby Jindal.”

“King Jindal” wouldn’t seem to be all that strong an endorsement under the circumstances. While voters in the district might be suspicious of the Riser-Jindal-Alexander conspiracy, what affects them a lot more is Obamacare, and the 80,000 Louisianans who are losing their insurance thanks to its deforming of the individual insurance market. And if McAllister can be seen as being on the wrong side of that issue – something Riser’s new ad does a nice job of painting him as, and throwing in a whiff of potential McAllister dishonesty at a time the electorate is completely disgusted by political mendacity – it could be enough to sew up the race and send the senator from the town of Columbia to the District of Columbia.