http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/jindalbacked_candidate_lee_dom.htmlBATON ROUGE -- Lee Domingue seemingly had it made: A multimillionaire businessman running his first race for state Senate, he had an overflowing campaign account, high-profile endorsements and strong backing from Gov. Bobby Jindal.
But those advantages weren't enough to keep Domingue from getting a 32-point thrashing in Saturday's special election to fill a suburban Baton Rouge state Senate seat that became vacant when Dr. Bill Cassidy was elected to Congress in November.
The landslide loss has left political observers questioning the length of the governor's political coattails, and wondering why Jindal's first endorsement in a legislative race was for a flawed candidate whose campaign was marred by allegations of questionable business practices and the revelation that he had skipped nine of 10 elections before seeking office.
Going all-out
Elliott Stonecipher, a Shreveport demographer and longtime observer of state politics, said the race stands alone among the legislative races he's seen for the amount of money and political capital expended in a losing cause.
"Everything that could go wrong went wrong, " Stonecipher said. "But almost all of it was discernible from the beginning."
Perhaps most embarrassing for Jindal, the loss came in a conservative district that would seem tailor-made for the governor's endorsement to make a difference. Senate District 16, an upscale, highly educated district that covers much of south Baton Rouge, is where the governor grew up and is home to many of his most ardent supporters.