Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco made history Saturday night, defeating Republican challenger Bobby Jindal to become the first woman governor in Louisiana’s history.
  Blanco, a Cajun Democrat from New Iberia, ran on a platform pledging to fight Louisiana’s “brain drain” and supporting both teachers and health care.
  The Associated Press called the race for Blanco around 10 p.m., but the final unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s office showed Blanco pulling 730,747 votes, or 52 percent of the popular vote, to Jindal’s 676,180 votes with 48 percent.
  Blanco even defeated Jindal in New Orleans, where Democratic Mayor Ray Nagin had endorsed the former Rhodes Scholar.
  Wayne Parent, chair of the Political Science Department and political analyst, said Nagin’s endorsement improved Republican numbers in New Orleans but could also have backfired on Jindal.
  “It might have fired up the traditional African-American base that didn’t support Nagin to begin with,” Parent said. “It might have increased turnout on the Democratic side, although I do think it changed some minds.”
  Jindal, the 32-year-old son of Indian immigrants, would have been the first non-white male elected as governor in Louisiana since Reconstruction.
  “I’m the son of two people who came here by choice,” Jindal said in his concession speech. “Today people exercised their freedom to choose. I stand here disappointed but not discouraged.”
  Jindal said his gubernatorial run shows the American dream is still alive.
  “If we will have the will, we can put ethics at the top of our state’s agenda rather than at the end of its jokes,” Jindal said.
  Jindal led the Oct. 4 primary with 33 percent of the vote, while Blanco only pulled 18 percent in the primary election.
  In polls collected as early as last week, Jindal held a significant lead on Blanco, but Blanco went on the offensive with personal attacks on Jindal’s presidency of the University of Louisiana system and time as secretary in the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.
  “He was winning with the idea of new ideas vs. old politics,” Parent said. “She changed the subject to human vs. bureaucrat.”
  Jindal refused to respond with similar attacks, calling them a throwback to old Louisiana politics.
  Blanco said the endorsements from former Democratic opponents helped her achieve victory.
  “I saw the early returns and I expected it to go back and forth all night,” Blanco told reporters. “A campaign like this is so challenging and difficult.”
  Blanco’s victory is a big one for the Democratic Party, which lost key governor’s races in California and Mississippi earlier this year.
  “We will be one Louisiana,” Blanco said. “We’re going to work to alleviate the pain and suffering of our people.”
  Parent said that with increased voter turnout and a cleaner election, Louisiana has gone the right way.
  “It was a good election for Louisiana,” Parent said. “Both the candidates complemented each other’s integrity. We saw some negative ads, but they were more about policy, not hard, mudslinging negatives.”
  In Louisiana’s other state-wide runoff, Democratic incumbent Robert Wooley defeated challenger Dan Kyle, a Republican, in a bitter race for the job of Insurance Commissioner.
  Wooley defeated Kyle with 58 percent of the vote, or 772,853 votes. Kyle pulled 566,758 votes, or 42 percent.