Louisiana Pol Switches From the Dark Side

Karl Rove has another victory:

After months of speculation about a party switch, state Treasurer John Kennedy announced Monday that he is running for re-election this fall as a Republican, after serving two terms as a Democrat.

Kennedy's re-election campaign announced the switch in an email. In it, Kennedy said he spent more than a year grappling with the decision — though the expectation of a change was heightened this summer when Kennedy met with then-White House political strategist Karl Rove and state GOP leaders.

"I have concluded that the Republican Party is the party that best reflects my values today," Kennedy said.

I would think the overall atmosphere for Democrats in Louisiana is getting a little poisonous. The failings of the incompetent Dem governor has made it very likely that a Republican will win the next election, and it could be a bad night for other Louisiana Dems. Whether Kennedy's switch was driven by principle or politics, either way it was a smart move.