Polls have shown Sen. David Vitter's image rating tanking among the state's voters, compared to the popular Rep. John Bel Edwards. | AP Photo Vitter barely makes Louisiana governor runoff And the Democrats think they have a candidate who can beat him.

David Vitter barely survived months of attacks — including explicit references to his 2007 prostitution scandal — to outlast two other Republicans in Saturday's Louisiana gubernatorial primary and earn a spot in a runoff election next month.

But now the toughest test yet looms for Vitter: What was once expected to be an easy race against the lone major Democratic candidate has the scandal-marred second-term senator again fighting for his political life.


State Rep. John Bel Edwards — who finished first in Saturday's open primary with 40 percent of the vote, according to The Associated Press — starts the month-long sprint to the runoff ahead of Vitter in the polls. Louisiana is an unlikely pick-up opportunity for Democrats — a party that doesn't control a governorship or state legislative chamber in the Deep South after decades of dominance.

Democrats believe Edwards, a West Point graduate and former Army Ranger who opposes abortion rights and supports gun rights, is the perfect candidate to take on Vitter, even if the latter is a high-profile conservative with plentiful financial backing. But even an ideal Democrat and a flawed Republican might not be enough to win in a state President Barack Obama lost by 16 percentage points in 2012 and then-Sen. Mary Landrieu, who comes from a legendary Louisiana political family, lost by 12 percentage points a runoff last year.

Edwards projected confidence in the Nov. 21 runoff during his victory speech Saturday night.

"We're going to kick their butts," he predicted, before shifting to emphasize his own honesty and question Vitter: "David Vitter wouldn't last five minutes at West Point."

Among those Edwards still needs to convince of his viability is the Democratic Governors' Association, which has yet to spend money on television ads in the contest and isn't committing to do so during the run-off. The DGA is sending Scott Arceneaux, a Louisiana native and executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, to assist Edwards' campaign.

"John Bel Edwards has proudly served our nation and the state of Louisiana with integrity," DGA Executive Director Elisabeth Pearson said, adding: "The primary results were a clear repudiation of David Vitter’s tired Washington politics. Louisiana voters know that they just can’t trust David Vitter. That’s why more than 70 percent of them rejected his campaign today."

Vitter — who finished second with only 23 percent, four percentage points ahead of Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, the third-place finisher — is deeply wounded, in part driven by attacks from rivals within his own party. Just this week, Angelle and Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne reignited talk of his 2007 prostitution scandal, and a Republican sheriff arrested a private investigator working for Vitter's campaign and accused him of spying.

Polls have shown Vitter's image rating tanking among the state's voters, compared to the popular Edwards. But while Vitter had focused his primary campaign on his GOP rivals, the Republican Governors Association revved up its attacks on Edwards, spending $1 million in the final weeks on TV ads that call Edwards an "Obama liberal" and features audio of Edwards saying "I supported the president" four different times.

The RGA formally endorsed Vitter on Saturday night.

"As a dedicated leader for Louisiana, David Vitter has been committed to making government work better for the people by cutting wasteful spending and fighting back against President Obama’s executive overreach," Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, the RGA chairman, said in a statement. "His record of reform shows that he knows what it takes to solve Louisiana’s most pressing issues."

Edwards' ads rarely mention his party affiliation and instead emphasize his most conservative policy positions. One ad features Edwards and his wife discussing their decision to keep her pregnancy after a diagnosis of spinal bfida in the womb. Their daughter, Samantha, is now in graduate school and engaged, the ad says.

"John Bel never flinched," Edwards' wife Donna says in the spot. "He just said, 'No, we're gonna love this baby no matter what.'"

Another ad highlights Edwards' military background, with a trio of his West Point colleagues discussing why Edwards was chosen to be on a committee enforcing the school's legendary honor code.

"John Bel Edwards doesn't just talk about his values, he lives them every day," one of his classmates says, providing a not-so-subtle contrast to Vitter.

Vitter used most of his firepower in the primary targeting GOP Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, but he did attack Edwards — who has held elected office for eight years and is in the seventh generation of his family to hold elected office in the state — as part of the status quo in Baton Rouge during debates. Vitter, who has prided himself on being an outsider since he led the charge for term limits in the state in the 1990s, could recycle some of his critiques of Angelle and Dardenne's use of perks for elected officials in attacking Edwards.

Based on Vitter's speech to supporters Saturday night, the senator plans on tying Edwards to President Barack Obama and Washington Democrats.

"Let’s be very clear: John Bel Edwards is not a casual supporter of Barack Obama. He’s a true believer," Vitter said. "Voting for John Bel Edwards is the same as voting for Barack Obama as governor of Louisiana."

Despite that message, Vitter may not have the benefit of a unified GOP. Vitter has clearly alienated supporters of both Dardenne and Angelle. Dardenne, in particlular, has repeatedly attack Vitter's integrity. Neither Dardenne nor Angelle endorsed Vitter during their concession speeches on Saturday night.

"He's cheated, he lied and now he's been caught spying," Dardenne said in a web video his campaign posted Saturday, adding: "We can avoid the disappointment, the embarrassment, the ridicule, the shame."

Term-limited Gov. Bobby Jindal's poor approval ratings have Democrats planning to link Vitter to the outgoing governor — despite a personal feud that dates back to when Jindal, who had succeeded Vitter in the House after his Senate promotion, less-than-enthusiastically defended Vitter from calls to resign after the prostitution allegations.

Edwards has been a major critic of Jindal's policies, particularly cuts to higher education and health care. And since easily winning a second term in 2011, Jindal's popularity in the state has plummeted — especially after launching his long-shot presidential campaign.

"With eight years of Bobby Jindal — and his numbers are in the tank below even the president — what the governor does is on the front of people's minds," said state Sen. Karen Carter-Peterson, the chair of the state Democratic Party. "The Republican Party has been tarnished by Jindal's failures and Vitter's scandal."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated Scott Arceneaux's employment situation with the Florida Democratic Party.