La. politics could make strange bedfellows

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- A porn star and a family-values leader could face each other in 2010, when embattled Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is up for re-election.

Both Stormy Daniels -- who claimed the 2007 Golden G-string Award --and Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins have expressed an interest in replacing Vitter as one of the Bayou State's U.S. senators, Politico said.

Vitter, who admitted to "a very serious sin" involving the so-called D.C. Madam prostitution scandal, is up for re-election in 2010. His name turned up in Deborah Jean Palfrey's little black book in 2007.

"I will say this: I have people in Louisiana encouraging me to consider it," said Perkins, a former Louisiana legislator who joined the council after losing to Vitter in the 2002 Senate primary.

"I don't think he needs to say anything else about it, but I don't think he can do anything else about it," Perkins told the Washington publication. "Can people feel a sense of trust in him to publicly stand with him and support him and help him? ... I know I still get some questions. I think he is certainly vulnerable (to) a challenge from the right -- a candidate without issues."

Daniels' interest in Vitter's seat was spurred by a grassroots movement started by a University of New Orleans political science student, The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported last week.

Daniels said if she runs, she it may be as a Democrat or Independent. In fact, she said, she may not run if her candidacy siphons votes from a more qualified Vitter opponent.

"I wouldn't want to inadvertently help the person I am trying to stop," she said.