Jindal, Son of Indian Immigrant, Wins Louisiana Governorship
October 21st, 2007 at 9:29 am . by beto_ochoa
“My mom and dad came to this country in pursuit of the American dream. And guess what happened. They found the American dream to be alive and well right here in Louisiana,“
With 53% of the popular vote, Bobby Jindal is the first Non White to hold the office of Governor. Jindal, who has an Oxford education, had lost the governor’s race four years ago to Gov. Kathleen Blanco. He won a congressional seat in conservative suburban New Orleans a year later.
He promised to fight corruption and rid the state of those “feeding at the public trough,” revisiting a campaign theme.”They can either go quietly or they can go loudly, but either way, they will go,” he said, and promised to call the Legislature into special session to address ethics reform.
Jindal built up support with a theme of ”buyer’s remorse” for those who voted for Blanco in the last election and had regreted that decision. Blanco was widely criticized for the state’s response to Hurricane Katrina and she announced months ago that she would not seek re-election. Her condemnation was well deserved as she spent the time preceding the Katrina disaster consulting with Ex-Clinton cabinet member James Lee Witt on how best to skim federal funds that were destined for the hurricane ravaged state instead of co-ordinating law enforcement and disaster services.
Pearson Cross, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette political scientist gave his summation ”I think the Jindal camp, almost explicitly, (wanted) to cast it this way: If you were able to revote, who would you vote for?”
The Democrats ran perhaps their most disgusting campaign in modern history against Jindal using race and religion as wedge issues. The Rothenberg Political Report has the lowdown on the pathetic smear the Louisiana Democratic Party tried to paint Jindal with, accusing him of being a radical Catholic who hated protestants. The ads only ran in heavily protestant areas of the state.
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