We're just a week away from Louisiana's October 12th primary, and the race for Insurance Commissioner could go either way with a recent independent poll showing most voters have yet to make up their mind.
Incumbent Jim Donelon has been blasted on the airwaves by attack ads, including one showing Donelon nodding off at some kind of public hearing. The narrator calls him "asleep at the wheel" in that one, and Donelon says it's a cheap shot.
"It is a veiled attempt to say that I am too old for this job and I take this as a personal attack that has no basis in fact," said Donelon who adds one look at his monthly schedule would assuage any concerns about his work ethic.
Donelon has served in the position since 2006 and says if re-elected he'll continue fighting to get laws passed that will continue to drag down insurance rates.
"I will continue to fight for TORT reform, and I will continue to espouse our market on the national level," said Donelon.
Opponent and fellow Republican Tim Temple has sunk over a million dollars of his own money into the campaign. He says Donelon has been exaggerating recent rate decreases.
"He has traveled the state since February this year on taxpayer dollars telling everyone that he has lowered rates for over 1.5 million drivers, and that is false," said Temple. "It does not apply to every single policy."
Temple says the state's second-highest in the nation car insurance rate is unacceptable and punishes working families and the companies that employ them.
"Business in our state are leaving because it's cheaper to go purchase their insurance in Texas, or Arkansas or Mississippi than it is in our state," said Temple.
The only independent poll of the race publicly available shows Donelon up 22-20% over Temple with 58% undecided.