Melancon launches senatorial campaign with Web site commercial

U.S. Congressman Charlie Melancon announced via his Web site that he is seeking U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s seat.

The same ad he uses on his site is also posted on the “You Tube” Web site, more evidence that the three term congressman may be planning to mirror President Barack Obama in using cyberspace as his media tool in launching what he declares to be a grass roots campaign.

Vitter advanced to the Senate in 2004, after Jefferson Parish voters elected him in 1999, to represent the state’s 1st Congressional District. His seat is up for re-election in 2010.

Self described as an independent and outspoken reformer, Vitter, a Republican, has long been an advocate for advancing mainstream conservative principles.

In 2007, however, he found himself apologizing to Louisiana voters after the public learned he had been a client of alleged “D.C. Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s prostitution service in Washington, D.C.

Since the discovery, at least one unlikely Republican candidate has surfaced as a possible opponent in his re-election bid. Porn actress Stormy Daniels is mulling seeking the first-term incumbent’s Senate seat.

Melancon co-chairs the fiscally conservative, “pay as you go” Blue Dog Coalition, which was founded in 1995.

Louisiana Democratic Party Chairman Chris Whittington said Melancon represents the “best traditions of our party and the best hopes for our state.”

“He is a proud family man. It’s time the people of Louisiana had a Senator they could be proud of again,” Whittington said.

In his cyberspace commercial, Melancon says he is running “because Louisiana deserves better. Louisiana needs a different approach in Washington, D.C., more bi-partisan,, more disciplined, more honest and with a whole lot more common sense.”

Melancon also says that he and his wife Peachy will be running a campaign that starts from the “ground up – around kitchen tables, fence posts, and barber shops, and not out of Washington, with all the slick mumo-jumbo that ends up dividing us.

“No matter if you are in Mamou or Monroe, it’s not whether it’s a Republican or Democratic idea – the only question that matters is does it make sense for Louisiana?” he said.

Prior to his election to Congress in 2004, Melancon spent 11 years as the President and General Manger of the American Sugar Cane League, watching over its 27,000 jobs and a $2 billion economic impact.

Melancon was also the owner of several Baskin Robbins franchises, and his own insurance agency during the 1980s and early 1990s.

From 1987 to 1993, he served as State Representative in the Louisiana Legislature.

Earlier, in the 1970s, Melancon worked as executive director of the South Central Planning and Development Commission.

He is a graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana with a degree in Agri-Business. He still maintains his home residence in Napoleonville.