Looks like Governor Bobby Jindal is staying out of the Louisiana GOP Senate Primary. In a statement, his spokesman Kyle Plotkin says, “Right now, the Governor is focused on fighting the oil spill and working to lift the moratorium. There will be time to discuss endorsements in the coming months.”
Emphasis on the word “months,” plural. Asked whether that implies Jindal won’t make any political endorsements until after the primary, his staff reiterated the same comment. That takes us past the August 28th primary, and into the general election campaign, when Jindal will surely endorse whomever wins the Republican nomination.
In the meantime, it seems, he’ll let Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) fight it out with his new, and formidable, primary challenger, former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor.
Traylor entered the race at the last minute on Friday, disenchanted by the scandal plagued incumbent.
Vitter, however, won’t be totally on his own against Traylor. Both the Louisiana Republican party, and the NRSC stand behind him. “We fully back Senator Vitter,” NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh told TPMDC on Monday.
That’s keeping with party policy, but it’s welcome news to Vitter at this point.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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