By KEVIN CHIRI

Publisher

LAPLACE — It may be over a year away, but the race for the Third Congressional District of Congress has already gotten underway.

U.S. Rep. Charles Melancon (D-La.) won the Third District seat last year in a close race against Billy Tauzin. But with the two year term in Congress set to be voted on again in November, 2006, the challengers for Melancon are already lining up.

Louisiana Senator Craig Romero (R-New Iberia) has announced he is definitely in the race for next year against Melancon.

The Third Congressional District includes St. John Parish, as well as St. Charles and St. James, in a district that runs from St. Bernard Parish to the west side of Louisiana.

Brent Littlefield, a Republican consultant who is working on the Romero campaign, reported to L’Observateur this past week that Romero wants to get an early start on the race after joining the campaign late last year and just missing the runoff.

“Craig decided late last year to be in the race, and still missed the runoff by only 1 percent,” Littlefield said. “But we want to start early this year and have now filed papers declaring our candidacy for next year.”

Littlefield said that Romero had already raised close to $200,000 in the Federal Election Commissions second quarter fundraising period that ended June 30.

“We feel like this is an impressive amount of money from a challenge candidate running against an incumbent,” Littlefield said. “Two years ago at this time, the most raised against a freshman incumbent nationwide was $66,000. We believe this total reflects the overwhelming support he is receiving for his candidacy.”

Romero has served in the Louisiana Senate for 13 years and this past year was praised by the Louisiana Family Forum for his work on right-to-life issues, while also being an outspoken supporter of the traditional marriage amendment.

Romero has raised most of his money from individuals, with over 95 percent of it coming from Louisiana.

“Craig is going to continue to aggressively raise money and build an organization that will produce a win next November,” Littlefield added.

Romero is a resident of New Iberia where he and his wife Pamela have raised seven children.