[This is an updated version of my Gambit column that will appear in the July 13 issue. It is updated because former Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor qualified against David Vitter after the dead-tree edition of Gambit went to print.]

David Vitter is sticking with what works. When Louisiana’s embattled U.S. senator qualified for re-election on July 7, he dodged questions about his latest self-inflicted scandal and instead offered reporters a familiar refrain: that his chief Democratic opponent, Congressman Charlie Melancon, is too supportive of President Barack Obama.

Vitter’s tack showed that he hasn’t lost his touch for sidestepping scandals. No matter what the issue, no matter how embarrassing the question, Vitter sticks to his talking points. So far, that approach has served him well. He consistently led Melancon in pre-qualifying polls.

But now the race is on, and Vitter won’t be able to hide without putting his early lead at risk. In fact, he drew a respected Republican opponent in the final moments of qualifying when retired Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor of Monroe entered the GOP primary against Vitter. Traylor’s north Louisiana base, which is home to many Christian conservatives, normally would be Vitter territory, but voters there who are not quite comfortable with the senator’s “serious sin” — and his failure to forthrightly address his character issues — now have an alternative. It remains to be seen how aggressively Traylor will campaign, and whether he will out Vitter as a hypocrite and a coward.

National analysts have already declared this race a likely win for the GOP. They may wind up being right, but hotly contested statewide races in Louisiana tend to be close, no matter what the early polls show.

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(This is a preview (with a few updates) of my column that will appear in this week’s Gambit.)

They say money can’t buy love or happiness, but in politics this much is clear: Lack of money will buy you a whole lotta heartache and misery. Add to that the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and you’ve got some real ugliness.

That pretty much sums up the 2010 Louisiana legislative session.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, who typically stays above the legislative fray, was even more detached than usual because of his daily trips to the oil-threatened coast. In his absence, House and Senate leaders, building on past tensions, nearly came to blows in the final hours. And with so little money to spread around, the inevitable cuts to education, health care and the arts/culture portend even more agony next year, when state revenues are expected to take an even more precipitous nosedive — just in time for redistricting and the next round of statewide elections. Beatings will continue until morale improves.

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Political leaders are often criticized for making decisions that reflect an “end justifies the means” approach to governing. Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu appears to be doing what he can to avoid that conflict in his search for a new police chief, but in the end he may have no alternative.

Landrieu is a huge proponent of the big tent approach to governance. He likes to invite everyone with a stake in his biggest decisions to sit down and weigh in, then forge a consensus, or at least a supportive coalition, out of that process. His transition team and its task forces reflect that philosophy.

But Landrieu is also results oriented. He can be single minded, even stubborn, and he is not one to back down from a challenge when he thinks he’s right.

Therein lies his first conflict as New Orleans’ new mayor. His transition’s most important task force, the one charged with recommending finalists for the job of police chief, has seen three defections and one involuntary dismissal because several members of the original 21-member committee don’t agree with the process. They want the identities of all 78 applicants for the job to be made public. They feel so strongly about that conviction that three of them opted to withdraw from the committee rather than remain part of the process.

Landrieu says the initial vetting process, which is being done privately by several internationally respected law enforcement organizations, is not up for debate. As the new mayor — and as the man who bears ultimate responsibility here — he gets to make that call.

Who’s right?

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As the annual legislative session opened last Monday (March 29), the House seat representing Louisiana’s most valuable real estate was vacant — and it will remain vacant for at least four more weeks, possibly eight.

House District 93 includes all of the CBD and Warehouse District, much of the French Quarter and Treme, and parts of the Lower Garden District, Central City, Faubourgs Marigny and St. John, and Mid-City.

Put another way, no one in the House currently speaks directly for the Superdome, the Arena, the Aquarium and IMAX Theatre, the Riverfront, the medical districts (including the LSU/VA hospital), the port, the World War II Museum, Harrah’s casino, the downtown hotels, many of the city’s landmark restaurants, Jackson Square, Congo Square and parts of Esplanade Ridge — just to name a few.

How did this happen?

It was a chain reaction. It started in December when then-state Sen. Cheryl Gray Evans resigned to join her husband in Connecticut. On Feb. 6, then-state Rep. Karen Carter Peterson, who represented House District 93, won a special election to succeed Gray. House Speaker Jim Tucker called the election to succeed Peterson for May 1, with a runoff (if needed) on May 29.

The annual legislative session that began last Monday must end by June 21, which means the new representative from the city’s economic nerve center could miss nearly 80 percent of this year’s session. At a minimum, the district will be unrepresented for nearly half the session.

That’s just part of the story. The May 1 primary falls on the second weekend of Jazz Fest, and the May 29 runoff falls on Memorial Day weekend. Turnout on both days figures to be very, very low, and that will figure prominently in the race to succeed Peterson.

This past week, six candidates — all Democrats — qualified for the job. They are:

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It’s a good thing Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu appears to be the New Orleans equivalent of the Happy Warrior. A less hopeful man might give up before even beginning the Herculean task of turning this city around.

Typically, a new mayor identifies a few big-picture, long-term goals and tries to marshal the forces needed to accomplish them. At the same time, a wise mayor also takes on some simpler tasks that can be accomplished quickly to give the new administration some early traction.

For Landrieu, the easy pickings are mostly slim pickings. About the only “easy” thing he could do right away is roll back Mayor Ray Nagin’s decision to extend parking meter hours to include Saturdays. Hopefully, Landrieu won’t have a problem reversing that one.

Beyond that, just about everything Landrieu has promised to do is going to be difficult, and some things will be more difficult than others. His biggest challenges at the outset will be reforming the New Orleans Police Department, starting with hiring a new police chief; stabilizing and then growing the city’s revenue base; reforming City Hall’s budgeting process (which may involve ceding some of his own authority); and sustaining the current momentum for public education reforms (even though education is not on his list of official duties).

That’s the really hard stuff.

The merely difficult stuff includes the following:

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