Via Ben Smith comes news from Louisiana that Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, whose once rising star has been fading since his abysmal and literally laughable rebuttal to Barack Obama's address to the nation, invested heavily in a special election held yesterday only to have his favored candidate lose -- and lose badly.

Baton Rouge lawyer Dan Claitor beat businessman and fellow Republican Lee Domingue -- the candidate with Gov. Bobby Jindal's backing -- to win the state Senate District 16 seat in Saturday's special election.

Claitor garnered 11,713 or 66  percent of the vote to Domingue's 6,114 or 34 percent, based on complete but unofficial election returns.

[...]

Jindal endorsed Domingue over two other Republican candidates prior to the March 7 primary election. Domingue had contributed $118,500 to Jindal causes, including $100,000 to a special committee formed to advance Jindal's political agenda.

Domingue used Jindal's  endorsement in campaign mailings. Jindal headlined a fundraiser for Domingue

[...]

Domingue had spent $429,709 to Claitor's $154,825 -- a total of $584,534 -- since they entered the race to fill a Senate vacancy.

Jindal's pick Domingue pulled in 34 percent of the vote during the March 7 round of balloting -- meaning that despite all of the help from the Governor, as well as a huge fundraising advantage, he failed to pick up any support over the past month. If Jindal couldn't move voters, particularly Republican voters, in a race like this, his political capital is likely much smaller than many previously believed. And with The New York Times today seriously undermining the silly rhetoric from Jindal that his state does not need the help of the federal government, this looks to be a bad weekend in what has been a bad year for Jindal's political career.