Below is a selection of excerpts from articles you may find useful while following Presidential campaign politics in the important weeks and months to come. I’ve highlighted points of interest in bold, including connections to Louisiana pols and politicos. Remember: coincidences don’t prove causation, but do keep them in mind as events unfold.
1. The Telegraph, “Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal endorses Rick Perry as Republican 2012 nominee” 9/13/11:
His support came just hours after former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty endorsed Mr Perry’s biggest rival, Mitt Romney.
Mr. Jindal, a Republican who has been mentioned in the past as a potential vice presidential candidate, said, “Rick Perry is the candidate who can lead our party to victory in 2012.
2. Greater Baton Rouge Business Report,.“Jindal sees some staff shakeups as he heads into second term” 10/24/11:
Gov. Bobby Jindal announced [on Oct. 24] that Chief of Staff Timmy Teepell is leaving the administration immediately to become a Baton Rouge-based partner in the Alexandria, Va., media and political consulting firm OnMessage Inc. Stephen Waguespack, who has held various prominent roles in the administration, will take over as chief of staff. Melissa Sellers, Jindal’s communications director, is leaving Dec. 1 to study at Dallas Theological Seminary. Press secretary Kyle Plotkin will take over the job.
3. Real Clear Politics 2012 GOP Presidential Nomination Poll Average 10/13-10/31:
Herman Cain 26% Mitt Romney 24% Rick Perry 10%…
4. Forbes, “Cain Says Perry Camp Behind Sex Harassment Leak” 11/02/11:
Was the recent attack on Herman Cain’s presidential campaign a professional hit job? Absolutely, says Herman Cain. And he says he knows just where to look for the guy who did it: At 815 Slaters Lane in Alexandria, Virginia, a low-slung former warehouse in the shadow of a coal plant.
There, beside rusting rail lines, is the home of OnMessage Inc., a Republican-leaning consulting firm recently hired to bolster Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential campaign.
One of the firm’s partners, Curt Anderson, worked on Cain’s losing 2004 U.S. Senate campaign. Cain thinks he’s the hired political gun who leaked details to Politico, a Washington trade publication, of alleged “sexually suggestive behavior” Cain is said to have exhibited towards two women while he ran the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. That story set off a media frenzy which has quickly put Cain’s campaign on the defense.…
Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan said it was “patently untrue” that the Perry campaign had any role in placing the sexual harassment story with Politico.
Aside from knowing about the alleged sexual harassment accusations, Cain campaign officials point to the timing of Anderson’s hiring by Perry as evidence of his involvement. The campaign announced Anderson’s role on October 24, just a week before Politico broke the story.
5. POLITICO opinion column by Anderson, in defense of Perry, published on 8/26/11, titled “Perryphobia”:
It has become fashionable in Capitol Hill Republican circles to say, “I’m just not sure that America is ready for another Texas governor.”
Who knows? Time will tell.
…[Anderson’s bio at the end of his Politico piece reads:] Curt Anderson is a Republican strategist and a partner at OnMessage Inc., a GOP media and polling firm. He co-wrote Gov. Bobby Jindal’s book “Leadership in Crisis.”