A political action committee supporting the Stephen Waguespack for Louisiana Governor campaign fired the first negative ad of the campaign; calling Attorney General Jeff Landry soft on crime. Now a PAC backing Landry fires back.
"When Stephen Waguespack was Governor Bobby Jindal’s top aide, Louisiana’s economy sank from 6th to 42nd," the ad intones.
The ad goes on to accuse Waguespack of presiding over massive job losses and economic decline while in the Jindal Administration, and calls him “a mistake we can’t make twice.”
Political analyst Roy Fletcher says he was surprised to see anyone “go negative” so quickly in the campaign, and equally surprised by the escalation.
"I think the response is probably tougher than the original attack ad," said Fletcher. "I just think that whole thing is just surreal to me. It’s just strange that this started like this."
Fletcher said the back-and-forth could actually help Waguespack, who has relatively low statewide name recognition.
Louisiana Congressman and U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has called for Republican candidates to refrain from negative campaigning against one another.