When voters in Louisiana's First District go to the polls a week from this Saturday to replace GOP Rep. Bob Livingston, the big fight is for second -- not first -- place. Former GOP Gov. David Treen is solidly in first place, so the fight is over who will face Treen in the May 29 runoff, assuming that Treen does not receive 50 percent in the first go-round. That is generally considered to be unlikely, but with the notoriously low turnout that usually occurs in special elections, anything can and often does happen.
Treen has been a fixture in Louisiana politics for almost 40 years -- indeed, Livingston and many other Republican activists in the state have long seen Treen as something of a mentor. He won Republican nominations, but lost congressional general elections in 1962, 1964 and 1968 as well as the 1971 governor's race before getting elected to the House in 1972. Treen served on the Armed Service Committee until elected governor in 1979, replacing Edwin Edwards. Four years later, Edwards made a comeback to beat Treen, who
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