re: How did John Kennedy get so popular in Louisiana?

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He’s shown some real fight in the Senate and people love him for it. He would have beaten John Bel Edwards by 20 points.

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Senate perches are safe and prestigious. I think the problem for Kennedy was, he's 67 years old and right now he's one of 100 senators, everyone kisses his butt, and if the national government has a bad day he won't lose his job. Running for governor means giving that up to go listen to griping and moaning from the mayor of every small town where the lights go out or needs road repairs, budget battles, doling out favors, and the day a plant closes or catches fire, everybody says "he's destroying the state."

Who needs that, at his age? He can coast on into his 70s for another term or two and be perfectly content.

Personally I think he only toyed with the idea of running so as to keep flexing his political muscles so people wouldn't think of him as a nonfactor. He had no intention of running.

Another thing about him. He's been a gadfly for 20 years. Whoever was governor, Kennedy always had some smart-aleck remark about how they were doing things wrong, the budget process was a joke, etc etc. Actually being the governor meant giving up that armchair quarterback role and seeing if he could do the job rather than sit back and second guess all the people who did. I think he would have seen some of the shine come off of his image if he did that, and people would be only too happy to jam his words back down his throat when times got tough. I'm certain that crossed his mind too.

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He is NOT what he appears to be. He is a hard core pay to play politician. If you think otherwise, you would be gravely mistaken.

I've seen him in action up close and personal.

Lots of funny quips, sure. Want something from him, bring cash.

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I'm sure you are not accusing him of taking bribes?

If all you are saying is he wants campaign donations, I don't see how that makes him one bit different from any other politician. They want campaign money above everything else- second only to votes.

If you win, many folks fall in line. Ala Trump

Kennedy is all about Kennedy. He was great at politicizing the Treasurer office. He would throw out "solutions" to fix problems that did not work, and when the legislature and governor would ignore his stupid ideas, he would bash them for it, and complain loudly about how he was being ignored.

He was all hat and no cowboy, but his self manufactured clash with the legislature and governor grew his brand tremendously, and gave the impression that he was fighting for the people of Louisiana.

He could have won this governors race, because he really resonates with the low information folks who think this state's many structural problems can be easily fixed., but as long as he gets to get on CNN and spin his good ole boy routine he is happy to stay in Washington. Running fir governor means he is actually accountable for something. He'd much rather lob grenades at someone doing a job, than try to do the job himself.

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He could own this state if he wanted to.

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He will in 4 years after JBE is re-elected. The majority of older Republicans in this state once were Democrats, they just changed parties. If Rispone wins, then Kennedy must wait 8 years before making a run for governor. The man did a good job as state treasurer, and even criticized Jindal's budgets and policies when needed.

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He will in 4 years after JBE is re-elected. The majority of older Republicans in this state once were Democrats, they just changed parties. If Rispone wins, then Kennedy must wait 8 years before making a run for governor. The man did a good job as state treasurer, and even criticized Jindal's budgets and policies when needed.

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But to anyone with a deep understanding of the state budget... his criticisms were dumb.

For example the state has contracts with audit firms to conduct various cost report audits for programs at DHH, LED, LWC, and im sure other agencies. The participants in various programs pay the costs of the audits to the state, and the state pays the CPAs. Kennedy took one of those contract and read about how the state had a 2.5 million dollar contract with a CPA firm, and that was ridiculous, and it needed to be cut by 10%.

He never understood that it wasn't state money being spent, and by privitizing this audit function the state was saving millions.

Another example is he complained about a statue that cost $25000 dollars and said that should be cut from the budget, but the statue in question was paid for by a federal grant to beautify college campuses, so while it could be cut, it would also cut $25000 in income, so you have done nothing to reduce the state budget.

I had no idea he was a democrat.

People love him because he says WHATEVER is on his mind...

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He never understood that it wasn't state money being spent,

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Of course he understood, he is a smart, knowledgeable guy. He just DGAF. He got the headlines and is now a US Senator where he gets to do that all day.

My biggest criticism of Kennedy isn't that he proposed dumb solutions, it is that he cynically knew they were dumb solutions but that people didn't know enough to understand it.

That said, would love if he were governor instead of JBE.