Floating a phantom candidate such as John Breaux worked: now the question is, with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco announcing she won’t seek reelection, what will state Democrats do to stop a conservative (state Sen. Walter Boasso) to a very conservative (Rep. Bobby Jindal) successful Republican candidacy for that office?
Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell is not the answer, who has staked his entire candidacy to this point on a dubious fiscal scheme. Not only is the shell-game of dropping income taxes in favor of jacking up taxation of oil companies not going to solve the state’s fiscal difficulties, Campbell has no plans, unrealistic or otherwise, to address the engorged size of state government and its suboptimal spending habits. Nor is Breaux the answer, whose candidacy would be a huge, probably poor gamble, both in terms of even qualifying and in his ability to best Boasso but particularly Jindal.
Who’s left? Current U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon seems supremely disinterested, especially since he may face a tough 2008 reelection battle possibly from Boasso. Chris John, former U.S. representative, didn’t show a whole lot in getting drubbed in the 2004 Senate contest by current seat holder Republican Sen. David Vitter. Nor did state Treasurer John Kennedy who seems more likely to switch to the GOP and run in 2008 against Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu. Her brother Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu must realize an inability to win the New Orleans mayor’s race demonstrated a difficulty in trading up, especially against the likes of Jindal. Former state Democrat party leader and businessman Jim Bernhard may have a bunch of bucks but his short time at the helm of the party showed him to be a political weakling at best.
Loyal Democrat that she is, Blanco would not have deferred unless another Democrat was ready to step in. The unanswered question is who. But, regardless, the answer Democrats probably do not want to hear is that they have no good option to stop what well may be an all-Republican runoff between Jindal and Boasso.
3 comments:
Jindal is nothing but a phony. He changes his name to sound like he's a good ole boy. His money comes from Indians and foreign nationals who want to move jobs offshore. The mere fact that he has never held a real job is scary. A lot of people have voted for him because he's a Republican but I don't think he has a snowball's chance in hell to win the state. He might fool those down in his district but nowhere else.
i for one am glad to see change taking place. you know that it is occuring when you see people posting idiotic comments like the first one. i hope the changes that are coming will completely purge this state of the policitics of yester-year!
I agree with the first comment. Obviously the second is from someone who is far right wing and doesn't do their research. We're all for change if it's in the right manner. Just electing someone because they're different doesn't guarantee a difference in performance. Louisiana's core problem is it's stuck with a bunch of poor trash that you can't get rid of.
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