By MICHAEL TORTORICH
GateHouse News Service

If you thought the notion of adult film star Stormy Daniels vying for the U.S. Senate seat of incumbent junior Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana was a flash in the pan, think again.

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed, 30-year-old Baton Rouge native has returned to the fray, this time hosting a “listening tour” that included stops at a popular downtown Baton Rouge bar and a New Orleans po-boy shop last week.

The “Draft Stormy” campaign started without Daniels’ knowledge by a New Orleans college student. At first annoyed by the use of her name, she eventually warmed up to the idea.

OK, I must admit, it has been tempting to use the play on words a name like Stormy lends itself to. It’s been even tougher to avoid using double entendres when taking up such a touchy subject. Oops.

After all, the whole thing is a thinly veiled joke that many seem keen on seeing through to next year’s election.

Oh, what a laughingstock Louisiana will be, right? Nah, it’s just good old-fashioned “Loosyana” politics, as some call it, and it’s just about par for the course.

After all, this is the state that led the nation in federal corruption convictions during a nine-year period, according to statistics compiled by the Corporate Crime Reporter. Giving tax dollars to such wolves in sheep clothing is like giving the keys to the liquor cabinet to a bunch of LSU frat boys.

Entertainment

Former governor Earl Long once infamously said that Louisiana voters “don’t want good government, they want good entertainment.” I have to admit following Pelican State politics is much more interesting than anything on prime-time television.

Long was immortalized in the 1989 film “Blaze,” which starred Paul Newman as the flamboyant governor who allegedly had an affair with stripper Blaze Starr.

Hollywood can’t compete with Louisiana’s version of “The Jeffersons.” Not only was U.S. Rep. William Jefferson indicted on corruption charges of his own, but so were his brother, sister and niece.

And no discussion of Louisiana’s political corruption history can omit the 1991 governor’s race, which pitted former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke against the colorful Cajun Edwin Edwards, who was no stranger to accusations of corruption.

Louisiana voters had to bite the bullet and “vote for the crook,” as was the popular saying at the time. Edwards ended up serving four terms as governor. Now in his 80s, he remains in prison after he was convicted on several charges in 2001.

So is it really all that shocking that a retiring adult entertainer is contemplating taking on a family-values conservative who admitted to an affair with a prostitute?

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Michael Tortorich writes for the Weekly Citizen of Gonzales, La.

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