Adam Brickley, the guy who launched the movement to draft Gov. Sarah Palin for the GOP’s 2008 ticket, has launched another cause which he’s (sort of) promoting:  a movement to draft Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-LA), the man who  took William Jefferson’s House seat, to run against Sen. David Vitter in the Republican primary in 2010.  His reasoning:

Joseph Cao is a faithful public servant who is motivated totally by doing what he thinks is right. He has good conservative instincts, he’s honest, he’s an upstanding citizen, and he’s independent minded – so even if he goes a little moderate sometimes, I like him a lot. Moreimportantly, I think he’s a tremendous asset to the Republican Party, and we need to make sure that he sticks around for a while…and, no offense, but running him for re-election in a district that’s 70% Democrat would be roughly equivalent letting him water-ski in the bayou (otherwise known as “trolling for gators”).

Luckily, we do have one – and ONLY one – shot at saving JosephCao from certain political destruction in 2010….we can run him as a primary challenger to U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-LA). You may remember that, in 2007, Vitter admitted to being a past patron of the prostitution service run by the now-infamous “DC Madam”. This guy is vulnerable, and you can count on the Demsto target him in 2010. So, while Vitter may have a strong conservative voting record, I frankly don’t think we should be wasting the party’s time and money defending his indefensible actions. In fact, it’s likely that Vitter’s re-election race will make a mockery of the American political process – as there is already a very strong internet movement to highlight his improprieties by drafting porn star Stormy Daniels to run against him (and Miss Daniels is telling national media outlets that she’s seriously considering it).

In all frankness, the people of Louisiana deserve better than the oversexualized circus that would result from a Vitter vs. Daniels race. And, considering the other candidates, the soft-spoken, devoutly religious Cao would probably represent a refreshing change of pace. Furthermore, Louisiana is notorious for corruption, and voters have recently become VERY receptive to candidates with a “clean government” message. This is how Cao got into Congress in the first place, and also how Bobby Jindal got to the governor’s mansion.

Cao may be a little moderate at times, but he’s an upright, downright honest man and a committed servant of the people. So, he could be just what the doctor ordered for both the GOP and the Great State of Louisiana. In fact, he’s probably the only way the Republicans can remove the taint of Vitter without handing the seat to a Democrat. If bloggers start agitating for his candidacy now (and the people here know a thing or two about such operations), we could potentially keep Joseph Cao in Congress AND get rid of a black mark on our party (Vitter) in one fell swoop.

Adam’s put up another dealing with Rep. Cao’s defense of his decision of his decision to vote “No” on the porkathon, a defense he made in strong terms in a letter to the New Orleans Times-Picayune; I have to agree with his conclusion that

Rep. Cao proved this week that he is the guy we thought he was when he took down William Jefferson in last year’s election. So, for my two cents, it’s time for us to circle that wagons around Joseph Cao and do everything we can to make sure that, instead of getting bounced in 2010, he gets a promotion to the U.S. Senate.

I don’t see a downside to this.  Sen. Vitter’s damaged goods; Rep. Cao looks like someone with a bright future in the GOP, but one which he probably can’t realize in his House district, given the vast disparity in party registrations; and if we actually wind up with a Daniels-Vitter GOP primary in Louisiana in 2010, that will be a disaster not just for the GOP in Louisiana but also for Louisiana as a whole and the GOP nationally.  The only way to avert that is to have one other strong and credible candidate who can win the primary and hold the seat, and it’s hard to imagine a better candidate for that than Rep. Cao.  Sen. Vitter’s not going to just step aside, and it doesn’t seem likely that the state party will try to pry him out of the seat, although they should, so it will be up to others to convince Rep. Cao to mount a primary challenge, and help him raise the money he’ll need to win.  (If he does, the RSCC will take it from there.)