BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — In the governor's race runoff, Democrat John Bel Edwards is hoping a strong dislike among some voters for his Republican rival, David Vitter, can help break a string of defeats for Democratic candidates seeking statewide office in Louisiana.
Less than four weeks remain ahead of the Nov. 21 election, and the competition to follow term-limited Gov. Bobby Jindal into office has tightened more than political prognosticators had expected months ago, when Vitter seemed like a lock to win the race.
After Edwards' strong primary showing, the Democratic Governors Association is sending staff to Louisiana to help the state representative from Tangipahoa Parish. That suggests national Democrats see Vitter as weakened, after the U.S. senator was attacked by GOP rivals and by outside groups that repeatedly referenced Vitter's 2007 prostitution scandal.
Polls have shown Vitter's negatives have spiked with Louisiana voters, particularly with those who supported Republicans Scott Angelle and Jay Dardenne in the primary. Michael Henderson, research director for the LSU Public Policy Research Lab, said the state appears to have "the real deal, a two-party competitive fight."
"Something weird is happening in Louisiana," he wrote on his blog Monday.
Edwards is working to build support from GOP voters who backed Angelle and Dardenne in Saturday's election.
An anti-abortion, gun rights Democrat with a military background, Edwards described his message as "squarely in the mainstream of the political spectrum here in Louisiana."
"I'm trying to reach out to people who've never given a dollar to a Democrat in their lives. I'm trying to reach out to voters who may have never voted for a Democrat in their lives," Edwards said.
Vitter is trying to make his head-to-head matchup with Edwards a partisan competition in a state that doesn't have a single Democrat in statewide elected office. He's tying Edwards to President Barack Obama, who is unpopular in Louisiana.
"The bottom line on our records is I'm a conservative reformer. He's a pro-Obama liberal," Vitter said.
In Saturday's election, Edwards received 40 percent of voter support, compared to Vitter's 23 percent. While those numbers suggest Edwards is in the stronger position, the dynamics of the election will quickly change.
Edwards escaped many of the attacks, when three Republican contenders were battling each other. Now, Vitter's criticisms — and attack ads — will be focused squarely on Edwards.
Both runoff candidates picked up other, high-profile endorsements Monday.
The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association, which endorsed Vitter in his last Senate race, instead picked Edwards in the governor's race. Edwards' brother is a sheriff.
Lincoln Parish Sheriff Mike Stone, president of the group, issued a statement that said the sheriffs feel Edwards "will enhance Louisiana's image and show the entire country that Louisiana values honesty and integrity in government."
Meanwhile, the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association's PAC backed Vitter, which could be a significant boost to his fundraising. Don Briggs, head of the PAC, cited Vitter's long-time support of the industry and said he would be a "pro-business governor."
Vitter touted raising $1 million already for the runoff effort, after heavily depleting his once-flush campaign account for the expensive primary race. Edwards hadn't released any details about his runoff campaign fundraising so far.
In a change of approach, Vitter also appears to be embracing televised debates.
Ahead of Saturday, the U.S. senator only participated in two of the seven TV debates that featured the other three major contenders, including Edwards. On Monday, Vitter said, "I am eager to debate the issues to confront John Bel Edwards."