Vitter Rides High on Anti-Obama Sentiment

Hostility toward prez helps La. overlook hooker scandal
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 11, 2009 10:45 AM CDT
Vitter Rides High on Anti-Obama Sentiment
David Vitter listens to his wife Wendy at a news conference in Metairie,La., after acknowledging that his telephone number appeared in the records of a Washington escort service, July 16, 2007.   (AP Photo/Bill Haber/File)

You might think an acknowledged client of a Washington prostitute would have a tough time being reelected to the US Senate. But you’d be wrong, the New York Times reports. David Vitter of Louisiana appears to be a strong favorite in his 2010 bid, and he owes it all to one man. “Along comes Obama,” says one local analyst, “and it changes everything.”

The president is drastically unpopular in Louisiana—he won just 14% of the white vote there. Before Vitter's Democratic opponent, Charlie Melancon, even announced he was running, the incumbent ran ads that simply said, “Melancon backs Obama presidency.” Republicans have already tried the tactic in one state senate election, nearly upsetting favored Democrat Norby Chambert. “We knew,” says Chambert, “that the president was going to be a cross we had to bear.” (More David Vitter stories.)

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