He Ain't Your "Buddy" After All - AG Caldwell Switches Parties

How many more turncoats and Democratic losses does Louisiana need to endure before we turn our Progressive efforts around?  If someone tells you that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, ask them if Louisiana had passed it, would they then support it.   The answer is likely no, because their disagreement with it is not about the Constitution.  Healthcare Reform is Progress.  Let's turn Louisiana around in the right direction!

From The Times-Picayune:

Attorney General "Buddy" Caldwell has switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.  

Caldwell announced the party switch Wednesday. He says he feels more comfortable with what the GOP represents nationally and locally, citing the federal health overhaul bill as an example.

Caldwell, who is up for re-election this year, becomes the latest in a long line of conservative Louisiana Democrats to leave the party. His departure will leave U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu as the lone Democratic statewide elected official.

As recently as 2004, Democrats held both Louisiana's U.S. Senate seats, as well as six of the seven statewide constitutional offices.

First elected in 2007, Caldwell was the only Democrat to join a federal suit challenging the constitutionality of the new federal health-care law, which was overturned earlier this week by a judge in Florida. A former district attorney in the 6th Judicial District, which encompasses East Carroll, Madison and Tensas parishes, Caldwell has been leading the state's legal efforts in connection with the BP oil spill.

His move follows recent switches by state Sens. John Alario of Westwego and Fred Mills of Parks, and state Reps. Simone Champagne of Jeanerette, Noble Ellington of Winnsboro and Walker Hines of New Orleans.