Louisiana state Treasurer John Kennedy, the Republican challenger in next week’s U.S. Senate race against incumbent Mary Landrieu, is now proclaiming himself “a firewall” between Louisiana and the growing Democratic contingent in Washington D.C.

“If liberals take over Washington, Louisiana is going to need a senator who’ll stand up to them.”

That message was delivered by Kennedy to Louisiana residents this week through a story in Wednesday’s edition of The (Monroe) News-Star and through a release sent out by Kennedy’s press office.

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Never mind the fact that Kennedy was the very thing — a Democrat — as little as 15 months ago that he now claims to protect us from, but what is this great fear of Democrats in the first place?

In this state, there is no fear of Democrats.

Although a majority of Louisiana and this country may be conservative by nature, national political affiliation has little to do with Louisiana electoral success. So running with a motto of protecting Louisiana from Democrats with less than a week to go in the race for U.S. Senate may be a reason why most political observers are predicting Kennedy will lose to Landrieu.

The fact is, Louisiana is a politically neutral state.

Case in point: Our current governor (Bobby Jindal) is a Republican. The previous one (Kathleen Blanco) is a Democrat. The one (Mike Foster) before that is a Republican. The one (Edwin Edwards) before that is a Democrat, and the one (Buddy Roemer) before him was both a Republican and a Democrat.

Of the two current United States senators, Landrieu is a Democrat and David Vitter is a Republican. According to the U.S. Senate Web site, before Vitter there had not been a Republican U.S. senator in Louisiana in more than 120 years.

Moving to presidential preference, in the previous eight presidential elections, the state has gone three times (1996, 1992 and 1976) to the Democratic nominee and five times (2004, 2000, 1988, 1984 and 1980) to the Republican nominee.

Kennedy, of all people, should know playing on conservative hysteria does not work in this generation’s Louisiana.

In 2004, when he was still a Democrat, Kennedy finished a distant third when he ran for the U.S. Senate seat Vitter eventually won. However, as a Democrat, he ran unopposed for state treasurer numerous times.

Now, Kennedy has switched parties and hopes to join Vitter as a Republican U.S. senator from Louisiana, which would be a first in this state since the 1870s.

Kennedy continued his “firewall” speak Thursday when a story in The (Alexandria) Town Talk quoted him saying, “Senator Obama is easily the most liberal member of the Senate. And if he’s elected president, he will be the most liberal president we’ve ever had.”

Kennedy continues to play on a perceived Louisiana fear of Democrats.

The tactic does not seem to be working. A Southeastern Louisiana University poll conducted Oct. 20-23 showed Kennedy 19 points behind Landrieu. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.46 percentage points.

Kennedy’s campaign spokesman said those who did the poll must be “smoking crack.”

History says it is not the pollsters who are missing the point.

STEPHENHEMELT

CITYEDITOR