Bloodless Coup

Heitmeier's Running for Louisiana Secretary of State

Wow - who would have expected this - it looks like there's an outbreak of competent people running for office in Louisiana! The old Secretary of State died, so there's a race this fall to replace him. Until now the fireworks, such as they are, have mostly been between two well-known Republicans, Mike Francis and Jay Dardenne. Now it looks like Francis Heitmeier is getting into the race. Heitmeier and Dardenne, while they have rather different political preferences, are two of the members of the State Senate who've long been more impressive and capable than average.

I wish I could say such good things were happening in the state's Insurance Commissioner race (though given how frequently Louisiana's Insurance Commissioners end up in prison, who'd want that job?). James David Cain is running against Jim Donelon (both men are Republicans). Cain has long been among the least appealing, most horribly populist, and often offensive members of a state legislature that has more than a few horribly unappealing characters in it.