Happy 2nd to Toomey Blog! (And a new surprise as well)

Phew.

Well, retirement has been, well, busy. Katrina has turned my state into a mess. In any event, I've come out from the woodwork to post this celebratory notice. As you may know, Vitter Blog was inspired by a similar blog named Toomey Blog, which followed and promoted the candidacy of Rep. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who was trying to unseat liberal Republican Senator Arlen Specter. Needless to say...it didn't turn out as well as we hoped it would. But it inspired a slew of candidate centered blogs determined to get the message out on the internet about conservative Republicans running in their prospective states. Some like David Vitter and John Thune succeeded. Others, like Herman Cain and Miller in Alaska, did not. This time around blogs are following the candidacies of people like Mark Kennedy of Minnesota as well as....well you'll find out in the link below.

Click on this link and read Chris' notice, plus his little surprise!

Grassrootspa.com

My letter to Bayoubuzz

I had recently written a letter to Bayoubuzz.com in response to an opinion piece written on their site concerning Senator Frist and the battle over judicial nominees. I wanted to share it with you.

You can find it here.

Kansas Blog Says Fire Lone Dem in Congressional Delegation!

Rep. Dennis Moore is the lone Democrat in Kansas' congressional delegation, and as such is always heavily targeted by Republicans. Moore has survived up until now, but his luck could run out. Check out this blog to see if Kansas goes all GOP in 2006.

Firedennismore.blogspot.com

P.S. I finally cleaned up my tagboard, and will be monitoring it much more closely in the future.

Vitter most conservative of GOP freshmen senators!

This will come as a bit of a surprise to some, as Senators DeMint and Coburn have been touted in many circles as the most conservative, especially the Club for Growth. But hey, it's great company. This story is actually two months old, but I have been meaning to post it.

The Senate's seven freshman Republicans, whom the GOP refers to as the Magnificent Seven, are a pretty conservative group. Turns out, according to National Journal, Louisiana's David Vitter is the most conservative of the bunch. The magazine's survey is based on voting records compiled by six of the freshmen when they served in the House, although their years of service differ. Former Bush housing secretary Mel Martinez, R-Fla., never served in the House and therefore isn't included in the survey, although few considered him in the running for the group's most conservative. According to National Journal, Vitter compiled a cumulative conservative voting record of 89.2 percent, meaning he took the "conservative" option on nearly 90 percent of the votes cast during his five-year House career. No. 2 was Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who scored a conservative voting mark of 88.6 percent, followed by Richard Burr, R-N.C., 76.6 percent; Tom Coburn, R-Okla., 75.5 percent; Jim Thune, R-S.D., 74.6 percent; and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., 73.1 percent. During his Senate campaign, Vitter tried to modify his image by putting an emphasis on legislation not normally seen as conservative causes, mainly legalizing the importation of drugs from Canada and other industrialized nations.

From The Times Picayune

Vitter supports Coburn amendment to limit spending, Landrieu opposes

Senator Tom Coburn R-OK., pledged to crack down on pork in spending bills, and he got his chance this past week. Senator Coburn introduced an amendment to remove $486 million from an appropriations bill. Freshman Senator David Vitter voted along with GOP freshmen Richard Burr R-NC, Jim Demint R-SC, Johnny Isakson R-GA, and John Thune R-SD against tabling the amendment. Senator Landrieu, on the other hand, voted in favor, and Coburn's amendment was defeated. Check on the link below, and you'll find Vitter, Coburn, etc, had some interesting company on their side.

Check out this entry from the Club for Growth blog. It has the full story behind Coburn's efforts.

List of roll call votes.

New blog for Tennessee senate race

With Bill Frist stepping down in 06, Tennessee will be electing a new senator. This blog will follow the campaign of former Rep. Ed Bryant, a conservative Republican running in the primary. Bryant ran for another open seat in 02, but lost the primary to Lamar Alexander. Ed clearly deserves the shot this time, so lend him your support!


http://bloggingforbryant.blogspot.com/

Stick With Rick!

Another blog dedicated to re-electing Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. I am following the race closely and I invite you to take a look at this site. Looks very good!

http://www.stickwithrick.com/

Other Campaign Blogs

I'll be compiling a list of 2006 campaign blogs to watch. Given that Louisiana will be quiet this election season, it's now time to focus on other contests. I should have a list up soon.

I'm back...

Retirement is a wonderful thing, but I'm thinking of spiffing things up a bit around here. Louisiana does not have a Senate race next year, so I may redirect attention to other races. There are some good ones shaping up, including Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

Here's hoping for some more gains in 06'!