Vitter renews campaign to turn Legislature into the best little whorehouse in Baton Rouge

The Republican sweep in last week's election was so powerful that its wake was able to draw David Vitter out of hiding!

The Times Picayune and the Baton Rouge Advocate carried stories today on the Saturday meeting of the Republican Party State Central Committee which, interestingly enough, could not muster a quorum even in the wake of their success last week.

The keynote speaker was disgraced freshman Senator David Vitter, founder of the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority (LCRM), there to beat on his fellow Republicans to raise more money to buy a Republican majority in the Louisiana House of Representatives and to close the gap on Democrats in the Louisiana Senate.

Vitter, according to the papers, was trying to raise $125,000 to help 16 Republicans in run-0ff races against Democrats in House races and a handful of Senate races with similar cross-party match-ups.

Vitter didn't mention the LCRM, but that group should have close to half a million dollars to spend on those races, too. So, the Senator was working the room for effect — 1) to rehabilitate his image; and 2) to demonstrate that he can still put Republicans on the spot by making a money call when the media is present.

Vitter's cash appeal to Republican Party leaders was loaded with irony as it was his own sex-for-money scandal that sharply curtailed the LCRM's abilty to raise money in Louisiana.

Under Louisiana's campaign finance laws, the LCRM will not have to file a report that includes spending figures until 10 days prior to the November 17 election. Based on the prodigious clip at which they continued to raise money in the final month leading up to the October 20 primary, and the extensive direct mail campaign the group waged in the final week of that cycle, the LCRM could have as much as $750,000 on hand for the run-off.

That, however, would not include payments to the consulting and media firms sucking at the LCRM teat, which will likely draw down the LCRM cash on hand numbers considerably.

So, the party that ran on a platform that consisted largely of the word "ethics" has issued an all points bulletin for dollars (from any and all sources) to help it win control of the Louisiana House. No irony there.