Vitter Rides High on Anti-Obama Sentiment

Stormy Daniels launches 'listening tour' across Louisiana

(NEWSER) - Louisiana Sen. David Vitter has been tied to the DC Madam, but an election challenger with an even more compelling sexual history is deciding whether to get serious in going after his Senate seat. Politico reports that Stormy Daniels, a porn star whose credits include Operation Desert Stormy, is launching a "listening tour" across Louisiana ahead of a possible Senate run in 2010. She's been flirting with a run for a few months, encouraged by fan website DraftStormy.com. More»

(NEWSER) - Louisiana GOP Senator David Vitter will meet a substantial opponent in his 2010 bid for re-election: porn star Stormy Daniels, CNN reports. A grass-roots “Draft Stormy” campaign, unaffiliated with the state’s Democratic Party, has encouraged the buxom blond to run on a platform of the economy, women’s issues, and child safety. The push is shining the light back on Vitter’s 2007 prostitution scandal. More»

NBC affiliates in Milwaukee and Green Bay to skip address, senator has Saints party

(NEWSER) - David Vitter isn’t going to attend President Obama’s speech tonight, not because he’s sending a message to the president, but because he’s got better things to do. “I have a Saints party,” the Louisiana senator told Fox News yesterday, “and I am absolutely going to be there for the big game, kick-off of the Saints and the whole NFL.” Vitter said he expected Obama to deliver “more a political speech than a substantive speech.” And besides: “As a fanatic, I have my priorities.” More»

He also isn't giving up without a (longer) fight

(NEWSER) - Joe Miller won't block Lisa Murkowski's Senate certification, he announced last night … but that doesn't mean he's giving up. Miller also said that he will continue to pursue his legal challenge of Murkowski's write-in victory, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The US district court judge hearing Miller's federal challenge—who forced Miller to first take the issue to state court (where he lost ) before pursuing it in federal court—has said he will likely lift his order to stay the certification, meaning Murkowski will assume office Jan. 5. Miller says he is continuing with his lawsuit "for the sake of the integrity of the election." More»

Pushes for lame-duck vote ... with big political implications

(NEWSER) - By urging a lame-duck vote on a new arms-control treaty with Russia, President Obama is setting up a face-off with Senate Republicans that could set the political tone for the next two years, writes Peter Baker in the New York Times . If the treaty is ratified, Obama will prove his strength despite midterm losses; if it’s not, he risks underscoring a “weakened” image “at home and abroad.” "I would say it’s the biggest gamble he’s taken so far, certainly on foreign policy,” says an analyst. More»