A Republican Wants to Unseat Louisiana’s Hooker Loving Sen. David Vitter

Sen. David Vitter, the hooker-loving Republican from Louisiana who hates ACORN more than any other U.S. senator, might not waltz right into a second term of making fun of Rachel Maddow’s femininity.

Vitter faces a primary challenge in August from a former Louisiana Supreme Court justice.

Chet Traylor, the first Republican elected to Louisiana’s Supreme Court since Reconstruction, made a last-minute decision to take on Vitter after a fresh scandal for the first-term lawmaker: An aide had remained on Vitter’s payroll after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a knife-wielding incident with an ex-girlfriend.

“In the weeks leading right up to the campaign, people just wanted an alternative,” said Traylor, 64, an Army veteran and former state trooper who later became a lawyer and a judge. Traylor said conservative Republicans — he didn’t name them — begged him to enter the race, fearing that Vitter, hobbled by scandals old and new, could lose to a Democrat in the general election.

Still, Vitter has the incumbent’s edge, in the Aug. 28 primary and in November, when he’ll likely face Democrat Charlie Melancon and a handful of independent and minor party candidates. He has more than $5 million in campaign cash and a double-digit lead in recent polls over Melancon, who has about half that amount.

Though in all fairness to Traylor, much of Vitter’s $5 million is already line-itemed for “hotel stays” and “in-suite company.”