We may like to think that we bleed nothing but purple and gold in Louisiana, but politically speaking, we pump out the deepest crimson.
Don’t tell ’Bama.
In fact, the entire Deep South has been Republican since Nixon’s second run for office, hiccups under Carter and Clinton notwithstanding.
I guess there’s just something about a heavy drawl we can’t resist.
In recent elections outside the solid South, however, it has been an uphill struggle for Republicans to maintain footing, especially for social conservatives.
Faced with accusations of promoting a farcical war on women, losing the marriage debate and a general pushback against traditional values, it is tough finding your home on the religious right north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Not all states are like Louisiana, which keeps getting redder every four years.
This has been best demonstrated recently by the gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey.
In Virginia, Tea Party candidate Ken Cuccinelli was defeated by Terry McAuliffe, who by all measures was not your standard progressive Democrat. Instead of hounding social issues like his opponent, McAuliffe instead took a more moderate approach, embracing the “It’s the economy, stupid!” platform, and purchased his victory by securing Virginia’s urban centers.
Cuccinelli, however, went out of his way to alienate women and every other minority in what has been for many years a blue state, along with hammering Obamacare amidst the government shutdown. In a state with a shrinking white vote and a huge number of federal employees, it’s almost as if he didn’t want to win.
In New Jersey, firebrand Gov. Chris Christie won an overwhelming landslide victory over his opponent. That’s not something to shake a stick at, considering New Jersey is the bluest of the blue with a Democrat-controlled state legislature.
In fact, Christie, a pro-life, pro-business politician, was able to carry 57 percent of the female vote against a pro-choice woman, along with 51 percent of Hispanics, 21 percent of African-Americans and 46 percent of union households.
I’ll let that sink in for a moment.
This should send a strong message to conservatives and the Tea Party — that if you allow the left and mainstream media to paint you as a zealous prude dead-set against gay marriage and birth control, you will probably lose anywhere that is not solidly red.
With this in mind, one can only conclude that there is absolutely no excuse for Republicans to lose anywhere, ever. The trick is running the right candidate for each state. A moderate in Baton Rouge is as much a fish out of water as a conservative is in Richmond or Trenton.
For example, Louisiana is a bastion of the religious right, with Baton Rouge as the home of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, whose following rivals that of Billy Graham. It should then be no surprise that Bobby Jindal, a Tea Party favorite, easily won two terms as governor.
A frequent budget slasher and a pro-life hardliner against unions, increased taxes and Obamacare, Jindal represents the majority of Republicans in the state, who incidentally make up the majority of the population here.
You have to know your customer.
Republicans need to worry less about appeasing the Tea Party and Grover Norquist in blue states than in red ones. The goal there should be to get elected and win hearts and minds with their policies, not their rhetoric.
Put simply, do not run any more Tea Party candidates in states where the word “Santorum” is used with any frequency. Seriously, it’s gross.