The Louisiana Republican who warned me that the state party has “a hundred Bob Smiths” — i.e., vain and quixotic types prone to indulging in personal pique at the expense of the party’s interests — followed up by saying it’s entirely possible that Republican Gov. Mike Foster could endorse Sen. Mary Landrieu over her GOP opponent. Foster is a lame duck, owes nobody anything, and is angry at the national GOP for throwing money behind Suzie Terrell in the general election (Foster supported a rival Republican). This morning, the Baton Rouge Advocate — which, ahem, reported without crediting NRO, which broke the story, that Landrieu fired her campaign consultant — reveals that Foster is publicly flirting with the Landrieu camp because he’s mad at President Bush over the Feds messing with his education reform plan. Hmm. According to today’s Advocate, the state’s education plan isn’t working all that well to begin with. In any case, Foster is going to have to be handled with delicacy. He could wreck this for the Republicans, and one gets the clear impression that he doesn’t give a flying fig.