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GUMBO PAC: the Cinderella story of the cycle

by Jeremy Alford, LaPolitics

Having started out as a campaign effort with guerrilla marketing techniques, GUMBO PAC was expected to spend an additional $2.3 million on television in the gubernatorial runoff by election day.

Trey Ourso
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Having started out as a campaign effort with guerrilla marketing techniques, like a single billboard and ABV stickers (“Anybody But Vitter”), and with just $200,00 on TV in the primary, GUMBO PAC was expected to spend an additional $2.3 million on television in the gubernatorial runoff by election day, according to its handler.

That makes it one of the heaviest-spending organizations of the 2015 election cycle after months of being one of the quietest operators. In fact, at one point during the runoff, GUMBO PAC, in concert with state Rep. John Bel Edwards, was spending more money on TV than U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s campaign and the allied political action committees supporting his bid.

Consultant and PAC director Trey Ourso of Baton Rouge didn’t do it alone. He benefited from a partnership with the Democratic Governors Association, which has put at least $1.5 million into his political action committee.

Vitter, who the PAC was created to oppose, even referred to his collective opposition as “Anybody But Vitter” during a recent forum, lifting from the PAC’s signature line.

From a crying baby to soundbites from failed primary candidates Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, the PAC’s commercials have been headline-grabbers. Even Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Norman surfaced in a TV ad for GUMBO PAC last week speaking against Vitter’s candidacy.

Those soundbites from Dardenne and Angelle resurfaced this week as well in one of the most creative direct mail pieces of the year. When a voter opened the mail piece, a small electronic device played the quotes from the two men criticizing Vitter — just like the popular birthday cards that play music once opened.

GUMBO PAC fell under heavy fire this election season from the business community, mainly for allegedly being a magnet for donations from trial attorneys.