Jeff Thompson

Qualifying for Louisiana's Fourth Congressional District seat doesn't officially end until Friday, but the race to replace outgoing Rep. Jim McCrery has heated up early with a revelation that McCrery's hand-picked successor was recently a steering committee member of presumptive Democratic nominee Paul Carmouche.

According first to The Rothenberg Report (subscribers only) and then picked up by multiple blogs including The Huffington Post, Thompson joined Carmouche's team prior to becoming a candidate himself.

For the Democrats, who have already taken over one historically GOP seat in Louisiana this cycle, this news is sure to be sweet.  For McCrery and the other Congressmen who have endorsed Thompson, a collective "uh-oh" is in order.

This is almost certainly a safe GOP seat. There is, basically, a 3-way primary. Chris Gorman's campaign releases polling that puts them ahead. He is running against John Fleming and Jeff Thompson. Jim McCrery, the retiring incumbent, is endorsed Thompson. The numbers are from the memo, and the fundraising numbers from the Green Papers.

I don't know much about this race, but I can't imagine that McCrery's endorsement is super-valuable. I imagine that Jindal's might be a game changer. Anyone have some more info? I believe that we have some Louisiana readers.