INDReporter

Kershaw: 'I'm the only one running for lt. gov.'

by Nathan Stubbs

Country music singer and lieutenant governor candidate Sammy Kershaw of Lafayette has been touring the state on his "Real People of Louisiana Hayride Tour" in advance of Saturday's election. Country music singer and lieutenant governor candidate Sammy Kershaw of Lafayette has been touring the state on his "Real People of Louisiana Hayride Tour" in advance of Saturday's election. At a stop in Pineville yesterday, Kershaw told the crowd the job of the lieutenant governor is to be a promoter of the state, nothing more. "The problem is, we haven't had a promoter in the promoter's job. We've always had career politicians or political insiders who get this office and they hang there and they use this office until something better comes along for them. They don't really want this job."

Kershaw added that he's the only candidate who has signed a pledge stating he will not seek any other office, and implied that the rest of the field of candidates are only interested in positioning themselves to be the next governor. "So what that's telling me is, I'm the only one running for lieutenant governor," Kershaw said. He added that the lieutenant governor has enough to focus on besides ascending to the state's top office. "I don't need to wake up and pick up the phone every morning and ask, 'Is he dead yet?'" Kershaw joked, referring to the fact that the lieutenant governor takes over the state's top job in the event something happens to the governor.

Kershaw is running for the post in a crowded field that includes three fellow Republicans,   Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis and Republican State Party Chairman Roger Villere. The two Democrats in the race are New Orleans attorney Caroline Fayard and state Sen. Butch Gautreaux of Morgan City. Kershaw has eschewed typical campaigning - and participation in a Monday forum with the other candidates in Baton Rouge - in favor of his throwback hayride tour of rural outposts across the state. Fittingly, Kershaw concluded his stump speach with a story about former Louisiana Gov. Jimmie Davis, before launching into a rendition of "You are My Sunshine."