Perkins: Is Mayor's Office a Political Steppingstone?

Political analyst Scott Hughes talks about the announcement by Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins that he will seek the US Senate seat currently held by Dr. Bill Cassidy. Hughes talks about Perkins chances against the incumbent, the source of his funding and whether the Mayor was using the office as a springboard from the beginning.

"My first thought was that it was really just a rumor," says Hughes, referring to stories of the Perkins run going back a couple of weeks. "Maybe trying to scare (Senator Bill) Cassidy or trying to build some name recognition. Then I started to hear more and more. Some film crews were here, campaign staff was being hired and suddenly it appeared that they were putting together a serious run."

Hughes also talks about the Perkins candidacy, despite being on the national party's radar, is a longshot. "The biggest problems (Perkins) will run into is that once you get past the first three lines of his resume, pretty much everything else, he's going to get attacked for. When he ran for mayor, the rest of that resume was a blank sheet of paper. Since he's become Mayor of Shreveport he's started to fill in a lot of details and I just don't think he's had a lot of accomplishments."

And regarding charges that the Mayor has used his position as a political steppingstone, Hughes is blunt. "I think it's 100% about running for name recognition. I really think he's running to help the party. I think Adrian Perkins time in Shreveport is two years and counting."