How big is this? It’s usually better to get local endorsements than national ones, but Cruz is something of a gold standard when it comes to congressional conservatism, at least in the eyes of a lot of people, and with Zach Dasher and Ralph Abraham seemingly locked in a major fight for the conservative vote in the 5th District race as the two vie to knock scandal-ridden incumbent Vance McAllister out of the runoff with Democrat Jamie Mayo Cruz’ imprimatur would seem to be a  plum.

Dasher gets the plum. On video…

For his part, Dasher seems pretty excited about getting Cruz’ endorsement…

“We are honored to be endorsed by a solid, proven leader in the conservative movement like Sen. Cruz. I look forward to earning the privilege and opportunity to serve alongside him and join the fight to take our country back.”

Where is Dasher in the race? Well, nobody seems to give much credence to those polls Darrell Glascock keeps putting out in the 5th District, but his latest one would have Abraham in great shape and Dasher improving but still out of the running…

Abraham, a rural doctor from Alto, led the latest poll of 501 respondents with 24.5 percent, followed by Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo, the only Democrat in the race, with 18.3 percent.

McAllister, R-Swartz, was next at 15.7 percent, followed closely by Dasher, R-Calhoun, with 15.1 percent, a 4-percent improvement from the previous poll.

Public Service Commissioner Clyde Holloway, R-Forest Hill, climbed to 10 percent after his first campaign ad hit TV last week, followed by businessman Harris Brown, R-Monroe, at 6.6 percent, former Grant Parish District attorney Ed Tarpley, R-Alexandria, at 5.6 percent, Eliot Barron, Green Party-New Orleans, at 2.4 percent and Libertarian Charles Saucier of Ponchatoula at 1.8 percent.

The only real analysis of the race that can be safely put forth is that McAllister seems to be in a whole lot of trouble – and either Abraham or Dasher is going to make the runoff instead of the incumbent. Or, if McAllister does manage to survive, the people who are going to be seen as the bad guys are Holloway, Brown and Tarpley for staying in the race until the end when they didn’t have much chance of winning – when their voters would be very unlikely to support McAllister and certainly wouldn’t vote for Mayo.