Kennedy seeking Landrieu’s Senate seat

(AP) – Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy announced Thursday that he will challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu in next year’s Senate race.

“I plan to officially kick off the campaign early next year,” Kennedy said in an e-mail letter to supporters announcing his decision and seeking campaign contributions.

Kennedy, a lawyer from Madisonville, ran for the Senate in 2004 as a populist Democrat but lost to Republican David Vitter. He switched to the Republican party earlier this year amid widespread speculation he would try to unseat Landrieu, a second-term senator from New Orleans.

“Over the next few months, I will lay the groundwork of support for an aggressive campaign that will focus on a frank discussion of the issues and how I will help move Louisiana forward,” Kennedy said.

The party primary election is scheduled for Sept. 6 and the general election is Nov. 4. It will be one of Louisiana’s first closed primary elections in years.

Landrieu, Louisiana’s senior senator, is considered one of the nation’s most vulnerable incumbent senators in the 2008 elections. Her past two races for the post have been tight contests, but she’s amassed a large campaign account, with more than $3 million on hand at the end of the last reporting period.

Landrieu didn’t immediately return requests for comment about Kennedy’s announcement.

The head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, U.S. Sen. John Ensign, quickly declared Kennedy’s entrance into the Senate race the “death knell” for Landrieu’s campaign. Ensign, R-Nev., said Kennedy represents change for the state.

“We look forward to working closely with John Kennedy in order to give the voters of Louisiana a real choice next November,” he said in a statement.

Kennedy has been state treasurer since 2000, a position in which he manages and invests state finances. He won re-election to a third term this fall without opposition. He was secretary of the state revenue department under former Republican Gov. Mike Foster before he was elected treasurer.

When he ran for Senate in 2004, Kennedy took decidedly Democratic positions, deriding President Bush’s tax cuts and pushing a minimum wage hike. But since then, he became increasingly more of an outsider in the party, touting conservative fiscal positions, sparring with Democrats about plans to rebuild a charity hospital in New Orleans and battling with Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s administration over financial matters.