Jindal wins Louisiana governor's race

[DeSwiss]

Source: Associated Press

Jindal wins Louisiana governor's race

By MELINDA DESLATTE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 3 minutes ago

BATON ROUGE, La. - U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal won the Louisiana governor's race Saturday, becoming the nation's youngest governor and the first non-white to hold the state's post since Reconstruction.

Jindal, the Republican 36-year-old son of Indian immigrants, carried more than half the vote against 11 opponents. With about 92 percent of the vote in, Jindal had 53 percent with 625,036 votes — more than enough to win outright and avoid a Nov. 17 runoff.

"Let's give our homeland, the great state of Louisiana, a fresh start," Jindal said to cheers and applause from a crowd that began chanting his name at his victory party.

His nearest competitors: Democrat Walter Boasso with 208,690 votes or 18 percent; Independent John Georges had 1167,477 votes or 14 percent; Democrat Foster Campbell had 151,101 or 13 percent. Eight candidates divided the rest.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071021/ap_po/louisiana_governor_28

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Jindal says his first action as governor will be to call the Louisiana legislature into special session to take up ethics reform. In Louisisana. We'll see how long he lasts....

[napi21]

1. I don't know anything about Jindal but I sure wish him luck.

La. has a LOT of problems, and it's going to take some miracles to get them fixed!

[DeSwiss]

2. Money would help too. :-| n/t

[MADem]

3. I guess the Republicans had better organization, or discipline.

They didn't throw up a shitload of candidates--they settled on one guy, a known name, and did that GOTV thing they do so well, which probably had a huge effect on the outcome.

Consequently, this guy won it on his first outing--no need for a run-off.

[DeSwiss]

6. Jindal's pretty well known....

...in LA from his prior run for office. And all politicians are viewed as "tainted" in some way down there for the most part. Its a way of life.

But Jindal narrowly lost to Blanco four years ago. And after Katrina and Blanco's performance in the aftermath of it, it kept her from running again. His campaign slogan (referring to the 2003 race) was, "if you could vote again, who would you vote for?"

From the article:

The Oxford-educated Jindal had lost the governor's race four years ago to Gov. Kathleen Blanco. He won a congressional seat in conservative suburban New Orleans a year later but was widely believed to have his eye on the governor's mansion.

Blanco opted not to run for re-election after she was widely blamed for the state's slow response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

[MADem]

25. I realize he is no neophyte. He was Rep. Jindal before he became governor-elect, after all!

But our team didn't stand a chance--because we had too many players in the game, and split our vote six ways to Sunday. I think our side might not have expected him to take above fifty percent and obviate a runoff, though.

[DeSwiss]

26. Agreed.

And the one's who were running weren't top shelf either...

[jus_the_facts]

12. COMPUTERS...."...probably had a huge effect on the outcome."

....I personally don't think the VOTERS decided anything yesterday....there is no receipt...nor any verification after the fact either...in this area...there were *glitches* all evening with the results too....hmmmm. :nopity:

[Zynx]

15. Every indication both anecdotal and polling wise was that we would lose this seat.

Louisiana is a lost state. It has to be considered as lost as the rest of the deep south politically.

[jus_the_facts]

17. And the rest of the country... besides the deep south... is somehow ... not lost ...politically.....

.....seems we're all in a stinkin' world o'shit regardless of who's in political office....some just not as deep as others. :eyes:

[Honeycombe8]

30. My home state, tho I live elsewhere now. La. was angry at the Dem. Gov. Blanco...

they were determined to vote in a Repub. Jindal had run for Senator before or something, so he was known. He had done well in that race, too (maybe he won, even?).

The Dems made a HUGE mistake if they had more than one candidate. They need ALL Dem. votes to concentrate on one person, to combat the tendency for the public to vote Red (La. is a red state, anyway).

Once again, the Dems lose out because of lack of strategy and smarts. They deserved to lose if they couldn't control the number of people running.

Once there is a Repub governor, that gives the Repubs mucho power in that state for the upcoming elections. Don't look to La. to pick up any Dem. seats anywhere. In fact, look to lose a few.

[MADem]

31. Jindal was in the House. And the contest was him against eleven others.

It's unfortunate. I really think the state machine thought they'd come down to a runoff and could catch up then, but Jindal took it in the first contest...

[bluestateguy]

4. Fine, now let's go get his House seat

And this Walter Fatso, or whatever his name is? What a clown?

[robinlynne]

5. I love it, let's go get his house seat...

[DeSwiss]

7. Jindal's district....

...is full of affluent Republicans. Like the people who voted for Vitter.

[pattmarty]

13. Did you say Vitter or Hitler?

[DeSwiss]

27. I know, we'll compromise....

...how bout Vitler?

[MADem]

32. Or Pampers or Huggies??

:rofl:

[Zynx]

14. Yeah that's one right wing district, not only one of the most in the state

but one of the top right wing districts in the whole country.

[DeSwiss]

28. Yep, its the "high ground" of Nawlins....

....In more ways than one.

[Bluebear]

8. '"Let's give our homeland a fresh start,"

Oh brother.

[PhD]

9. Louisiana needs to clean house

Blanco was a disgrace to the party. I can't understand how Ray Nagin got reelected, as his performance was even more disgraceful.

[xchrom]

10. republic party people take up ethics reform?

:rofl:

[iamthebandfanman]

11. not suprising

hes well known in the state and ran last time around....

and with the corruption on every level exposed because of katrina, people will hafta pay for it with their jobs.

i hear hes a pretty level headed guy, but i honestly do not know his positions on the issues.

[Maryland Liberal]

16. This guy is trouble

Could be a future Presidential canidate - we must destroy him -NOW

[ohio2007]

21. Looks like RFK imo

another young Bobby

[onehandle]

18. Two Democrats and an Independent split almost evenly the rest of the votes?

The GOP loves unorganized Dems and useless Independents.

[lapfog_1]

19. Katrina... "Mission: Accomplished!"

A purple state is now trending red. That was the plan... that's why the refugees were scattered... that's why rebuilding is taking so long.

[ohio2007]

22. You say its the weather machine eh? nt

[lapfog_1]

23. No... I'm saying that the response to a disaster was planned.

New Orleans was waiting to happen. The relocation of thousands to places outside the state was planned. Especially to places that an influx of Democratic voters wouldn't affect too much.

[Zynx]

29. We lost LA by 13 pts in 2004. Hardly a purple state.

That's no more a purple state than Illinois is.

[ohio2007]

20. voter apathy......nt

[skip fox]

24. As a professor in at The University of Louisiana at Lafatette, one worries.

Maybe without cause. I hope so.

[BRLIB]

33. Louisiana remains the laughing stock!

Big R, Big Money win, with help from name recognition and a late start by opponents.
And help by a public that perceives myth over reality, and doesn't care to look at the record.

Out of 12 candidates, only the four Big Moneyed got other than 0% of the vote:
http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=102007
These were the media-picked and promoted chosen few.
Which is why we need public financing of elections. That would make us a leader rather than a belated follower.


Just a few of the "37" reasons listed:
http://cenlamar.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/37-reasons-to-vote-against-bobby-jindal/

"3. In 2005, Bobby Jindal voted with President Bush 90% of the time and with the Republican Party 97% of the time, according to Congressional Quarterly." I add: He has not been at his job since August 4th 2007 except for one day. He spent years re-running for Governor at taxpayers' expense.

"7. Bobby Jindal believes in teaching creationism and/or “intelligent design” in the classroom.

18. In September 2003, Bobby Jindal told The Times-Picayune that he was “100 percent pro-life with no exceptions.”

21. Bobby Jindal supports Social Security privatization.

22. Bobby Jindal voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate on prescription drug prices (HR 4, Vote 23, January 12, 2007).

26. Bobby Jindal supports draining our public schools of resources and funding by offering vouchers and increasing incentives (and/or tax credits) for business-run, parochial, and charter schools.

29. Bobby Jindal is opposed to stem cell research.

31. As a Congressman, Bobby Jindal received nearly $200,000 from Big Oil, nearly $200,000 from Big Insurance, over $11,000 from Big Tobacco, and nearly $115,000 from Big Pharmaceutical companies.

33. Bobby Jindal received $50,000 in bundled donations from a Colorado-based company seeking a permit to build a controversial landfill near Baton Rouge."

[KamaAina]

34. So much for the recovery

on the one hand, Bush**co might well decide to stop screwing La. and handing all the $$$ to Haley Barbour's Miss. now that the once-Gret Stet has a Rove protege at the helm.

On the other hand, Piyush (his given name) will be certain to spend all that largesse on the Disneyland model of recovery (i.e. no black people allowed unless blowing a trumpet).

And to think, I was ready to go back, given the opportunity. Looks like they'll have to do without me for a few more years. :(