With the exception of the 1992 gubernatorial race between The Crook and The Grand Wizard, Louisiana has seen its fair share of partisan elections. Democrats voted for Democrats and Republicans voted for Republicans.
Recently, many Democrats are taking a second look at the Republican in this year’s race.
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin’s recent endorsement of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal exemplifies a growing trend in many Louisiana Democrats: the choice of perceived change over party loyalty.
Spurned on by Louisiana’s “Dixiecrat” tradition of Edwin Edwards-style politicians, more and more Democrats are trusting intuition and glaring with hope at the up-side of Bobby Jindal.
The Democratic label, made sour by the likes of Edwards and his cronies, is now worn as a sort of scarlet letter, with Blanco bearing the brunt of the negativity.
To boot, Jindal’s attractiveness to Democrats lies in many areas.
His membership in a successful American minority known to the country as hard-working gives him a different, positive flare.
He’s smart.
He was a Rhodes Scholar, and Rhodes Scholars have been known to run governments rather well.
He’s Christian.
Ah, yes, he’s Christian.
To the Louisiana voter, this is perhaps one of the most important aspects of Jindal.
It’s nice to think that Louisiana would elect a Hindu governor, but it probably wouldn’t. It would, however, elect a Christian convert (Jindal converted while in high school).
Whenever you hear a Republican touting the wonders of Bobby Jindal, you usually hear them mentioning his Christian faith.
Considering that many Louisiana Democrats are church-goers, this can only be a plus.
It boils down to this, though: Bobby is a good, intelligent Indian-American Christian Rhodes Scholar who has never been dirtied by Louisiana politics. Period.
This is our unifying thread – his “new-and-different-but-like-us” quality. It is this quality that places him ahead in the polls and most of the state at his feet, whether it be moderate Democrats or the Christian Coalition.
It is this quality that will probably lead to Blanco’s defeat, for no matter how hard she tries she will never be able to separate herself from the old school Louisiana Democrats.
Jindal has a few qualities that still leave Democrats leery, especially his ties to the befuddled Bush administration.
He’ll be hard-pressed to convert hardcore Democrats, for links to the much-maligned current administration (for which he served as health policy adviser) can only hurt.
But Jindal probably isn’t worried. He didn’t even need Nagin’s sponsorship.
The mayor’s endorsement probably won’t even help Jindal with the New Orleans vote or the black vote.
Before October 4, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Randy Ewing received Nagin’s endorsement and declared it “monumental.”
But it only got him fifth place in the primary.
Voters realize that to stop Louisiana’s young, fresh and intelligent minds from leaving they must turn to the like: the young, the fresh and the intelligent.
Jindal has effectively portrayed himself this way.
Unless Blanco manages to make miracles on Election Day, it might be her own party that does her in.