Melancon, the only Democratic member of Louisiana’s House delegation, is in his third two-year term in the House. He is a former state legislator and a businessman whose resume includes a stint as president and general manager of the American Sugar Cane League, which lobbies on behalf of sugar cane farmers and processors.
Vitter, also a former member of the Louisiana Legislature, is an attorney. He succeeded Rep. Bob Livingston in the House and moved on to the Senate in 2004. He was the state’s first Republican senator since Reconstruction, having won on a platform stressing his conservatism on fiscal and social issues.
He looked vulnerable after news broke in 2007 that his phone number was among the records of a Washington prostitution ring. Admitting only to an unspecified “serious sin,” Vitter refused to answer questions about the scandal and has denied other allegations of involvement with prostitutes.
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