Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2007

Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2007

The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 2007 was held on October 20. The filing deadline for candidates was September 6. On the day of the election, all 12 candidates competed in an open jungle primary. With all precincts reporting, Bobby Jindal won the election with 54%. [http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=102007 Louisiana Secretary of State] Retrieved October 21, 2007]

Background

Elections in Louisiana, with the exception of U.S. presidential elections (and congressional races beginning in 2008), follow a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party. This scenario occurred in the 7th District congressional race in 1996, when Democrats Chris John and Hunter Lundy made the runoff for the open seat, and in 1999, when Republicans Suzanne Haik Terrell and Woody Jenkins made the runoff for Commissioner of Elections.

Candidates

Democratic

*Walter Boasso - Elected to the State Senate in 2003, representing St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish. He is also president and CEO of Boasso America Corp., a network of shipping container facilities, and has served on the Port of New Orleans Board of Commissioners. He has received a reputation as a conservative, pro-business legislator. After Hurricane Katrina, Boasso achieved prominence as one for the state’s leading advocates for consolidation and reform of the state’s Levee Boards. He switched to the Democratic Party on April 26, 2007.

*Foster Campbell - Louisiana Public Service Commissioner for District 5, 2002-Present; St. Senator, 1976-2002. Campbell is a cattle farmer and owner of an insurance agency from Bossier Parish. As a state senator and as a Public Service Commissioner, Campbell pushed to regulate and lower utility rates. A centerpiece of his populist campaign is a proposal to tax foreign oil refined in Louisiana and use the proceeds to eliminate personal income tax.

*Vinny Mendoza - Kenner resident. Veteran of the Korean War and has run for many state offices.

*Hardy Parkerson - Lake Charles attorney. He is running as a self-described “Ronald Reagan Conservative Democratic Family Forum Christian-Coalition States' Rights candidate.”

*Mary Volentine Smith - Retired Hairdresser from Winnsboro. If elected she will release former Governor Edwin Edwards.

Republicans

*Bobby Jindal - A U.S. Congressman representing Louisiana's First Congressional District. Jindal previously served as Louisiana's Secretary of Health and Hospitals from 1996 to 1998 and President of the University of Louisiana System from 1999 to 2001, and was appointed by President George W. Bush as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation from 2001 to 2003. Jindal ran against Kathleen Blanco for governor in 2003, and was narrowly defeated, having received 48% of the vote. Jindal currently has raised $5.1 million - putting him second in the campaign finance arena as of the April reporting period.

Libertarian

*T. Lee Horne, III - real estate salesman from Franklin

Independent

*Belinda Alexandrenko - Lafayette resident who previously ran for Governor in 1995 & 1999. In 1999, she received 0.69% of the vote and did not run in 2003.

*Sheldon Forest - Maurice resident.

*Anthony "Tony G" Gentile - oil refinery supervisor from Mandeville

*John Georges - Georges is a wealthy New Orleans businessman with investments in gaming and grocery businesses.

*Jim Nichols - Donaldsonville resident who previously ran for Governor in 1995.

Campaign

Blanco's faltering popularity

Originally planning to run for re-election, the incumbent governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, entered the election year with a significant erosion in her level of popular support, due in large part to perceptions of inadequate performance in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In November 2006, Blanco had an approval rating of 39%, and she had encountered further political setbacks since November.

In December 2006, Blanco called a special session of the Louisiana State Legislature which she intended to use to dispense $2.1 billion worth of tax cuts, teacher raises, road projects and other spending programs. Legislators allied with Blanco attempted to lift a spending cap imposed by the state constitution, but Republican lawmakers defeated Blanco’s spending measures. The high-profile defeat further eroded Blanco’s political reputation. [cite news
first=Bill
last=Barrow
title=Session debacle fuels GOP’s resolve; some lawmakers decry partisanship.
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2006-12-17
]

By late 2006 and early 2007, Blanco was facing increasingly heated accusations of delays and incompetence in administering the Road Home Program, a state-run program which Blanco had set up following Katrina in order to distribute federal aid money to Katrina victims for damage to their homes. By January 2007, fewer than 250 of an estimated 100,000 applicants had received payments from the program, and many of the payments were apparently based on assessments which grossly undervalued the cost of damage to homes. [cite news
first=Jeffrey
last=Meitrodt
url=http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1169970765301220.xml&coll=1
title=Understaffed and Overwhelmed: The firm administering Louisiana's Road Home program has consistently underestimated the magnitude of the task, records show.
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-01-28
accessdate=2006-01-29
]

By January 2007, the first opinion polls of the campaign showed Blanco trailing expected opponent Bobby Jindal by over 20 percentage points. Facing an upcoming re-election campaign with greatly reduced popularity, Blanco began her campaign by making repeated public criticisms of the administration of President George W. Bush in January 2007. Noting that Bush neglected to mention Gulf Coast reconstruction in his 2007 State of the Union Address, Blanco called for a bipartisan Congressional investigation into the conduct of the Bush administration following Katrina, to determine whether partisan politics played a role in the slow response to the storm. [cite news
first=David
last=Hammer
url=http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1169714864320640.xml&coll=1
title= Blanco criticizes president's speech: Failure to mention Gulf Coast irks many
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-01-25
accessdate=2006-01-29
] This call followed comments by disgraced former FEMA director Michael D. Brown, who claimed that the White House had planned to upstage Blanco by federalizing the National Guard in the days following the storm. Blanco also repeated accusations that Mississippi received preferential treatment because its governor, Haley Barbour, is a Republican. [cite news
first=Bill
last=Walsh
url=http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-1/116953815315500.xml&coll=1
title= Blanco calls for federal Katrina probe: Ex-director says White House tried to foil governor
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-01-23
accessdate=2006-01-29
]

Democrats drop/decline

Beginning in February 2007, speculation grew among Louisiana political commentators that former U.S. Senator and current Washington, D.C. lobbyist John Breaux would announce his candidacy. [cite news
first= Clancy
last=Dubos
title=Breaux ex Machina
work=Gambit Weekly
date=2006-12-17
] [cite news
first=Chris
last=Cillizza
url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201730.html
title=Breaux to the Rescue?
work=The Washington Post
date=2007-02-23
accessdate=2006-01-26
] [cite news
first= John
last= Maginnis
url= http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1172041792203960.xml?NOEJM&coll=1
title=Desperate Dems look to Breaux again
work=The New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-02-21
accessdate=2007-02-26
] However, controversy emerged as to whether Breaux would meet the residency requirements to run for Governor as he had listed his primary address in Maryland since 2005 and was registered to vote there. [cite news
first= Melinda
last= Deslatte
url= http://www.dailycomet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070222/APN/702222671
title= Breaux's residency questioned amid rumors of possible candidacy
work=Thibodaux Daily Comet
date=2007-02-22
accessdate=2007-02-26
]

On March 20 2007, Blanco announced that she would not be running for re-election. She stated that removing herself from the campaign would allow her to focus the remainder of her term on Louisiana’s recovery without the distraction of campaigning for re-election. But her announcement came after weeks of growing calls from members of the Louisiana Democratic party for her to step aside and allow a more popular candidate to face Jindal. [cite news
first= Ed
last= Anderson
url= http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1174456461193610.xml&coll=1
title= Blanco bows out of race
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-03-21
accessdate=2007-03-21
]

On March 29, John Breaux made his first Louisiana public appearance since speculation began concerning his potential candidacy. Breaux said that he intended to run, and would announce his candidacy as soon as Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti, a Democrat, gave a formal legal opinion on whether Breaux was eligible to run. At issue was the clause in the Louisiana constitution which states that a candidate for governor must be a 'citizen' of the State of Louisiana; what constitutes a citizen is not defined. [cite news
first= Ed
last= Anderson
url= http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1175234082230740.xml&coll=1&thispage=2
title= Breaux moves forward with campaign
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-03-30
accessdate=2007-03-30
] The state Republican party began running advertisements attacking Breaux as a resident of Maryland.

On April 13, Breaux released a statement that he would not be running for governor. Attorney General Foti had declined to issue an opinion on Breaux's eligibility, stating it was an issue for the courts to decide. Breaux stated that he did not want the issue of eligibility to overshadow his campaign, as a court challenge would not occur until September. [cite news
first= Ed
last= Anderson
url= http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/04/breaux_says_he_wont_run.html
title= Breaux says he will not run for governor
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-04-13
accessdate=2007-04-13
]

On April 17, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu also declined to run leaving the field very open on the Democratic side. [cite news
first= Doug
last= Simpson
url= http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070417/ap_on_el_gu/louisiana_governor;_ylt=AsYgjfa7bd6xsP0zH7Tj5FSyFz4D
title= Mitch Landrieu declines La. governor bid
work= Associated Press
date=2007-04-17
accessdate=2007-04-17
] Due to the lack of a high-profile Democratic candidate, party leaders approached Republican State Senator Walter Boasso about switching parties; [cite news
first= Ed
last= Anderson
url= http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1177136792117150.xml&coll=1
title= Demos hunt for big name candidate
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-04-21
accessdate=2007-04-21
] Boasso formally switched to the Democratic Party on April 26. [cite news
first= Ed
last= Anderson
url= http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/04/boasso_makes_switch_to_democra.html
title= Boasso makes switch to Democrats
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-04-27
accessdate=2007-04-27
]

Republican fundraising efforts

As of the April 2007 reports, two Republican candidates have emerged with the largest campaign warchests in Louisiana history - Georges with $5.5 million cash on hand and Jindal who has received $5 million in campaign financing. The financial strength of the two Republicans presented a tremendous challenge to recruiting a strong candidate for the Democratic party. Georges, however, has since left the Louisiana GOP and registered as an independent for the gubernatorial race. [cite news
first= Ed
last= Anderson
url= http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/04/breaux_says_he_wont_run.html
title= Breaux says he will not run for governor
work=New Orleans Times-Picayune
date=2007-04-13
accessdate=2007-04-13
]

Democratic attack on Jindal's religious writings

An ad campaign by the Louisiana Democratic Party launched in late August, 2007 which attacked Bobby Jindal on the basis of supposed inflammatory remarks made about Protestantism. The ad was solely aired in the largely Protestant central and northern districts of the state. The ad drew attention to essays Jindal wrote over a decade ago discussing his Catholic faith and conversion. One such essay titled "How Catholicism Is Different - The Catholic Church Isn't Just Another Denomination" was published in 1996 in the New Oxford Review. [cite journal | first = Jindal | last = Bobby | title = "How Catholicism Is Different - The Catholic Church Isn't Just Another Denomination" | publisher = New Oxford Review | year = Dec 1996] . Jindal said about the ad, "They're absolute lies. We're not talking about an exaggeration". A letter from the campaign went further to say "each claim made in the advertisement distorts Mr. Jindal's positions with false and grossly distorted statements." [cite web|url = http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-0/11877621549270.xml&coll=1|title = Jindal wants religious insult claims dropped|accessdate = 2007-08-22|last = Moller|first = Jan|date = 2007-08-22|publisher = New Orleans Times-Picayune ]

Opinion polling

Results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (US)
candidate = Bobby Jindal
votes = 699,672
percentage = 53.91
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Walter Boasso
votes = 226,364
percentage = 17.44
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = John Georges
votes = 186,800
percentage = 14.39
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Foster Campbell
votes = 161,425
percentage = 12.44
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Mary Volentine Smith
votes = 5,843
percentage = 0.45
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Belinda Alexandrenko
votes = 4,782
percentage = 0.37
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Anthony Gentile
votes = 3,369
percentage = 0.36
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Libertarian Party (US)
candidate = T. Lee Horne, III
votes = 2,639
percentage = 0.20
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Sheldon Forest
votes = 2,319
percentage = 0.18
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (US)
candidate = M. V. "Vinny" Mendoza
votes = 2,076
percentage = 0.16
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Hardy Parkerson
votes = 1,661
percentage = 0.13
change =
Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Arthur D. "Jim" Nichols
votes = 993
percentage = 0.08
change =
Election box majority
votes = 473,308
percentage = 36.47%
change =
Election box turnout
votes = 1,297,943
percentage =
change =
Election box gain with party link
winner = Republican Party (US)
loser = Democratic Party (US)
swing =

References

sequence
prev=2003 gubernatorial election
list=Louisiana gubernatorial elections
next=2011 gubernatorial election

ee also

*U.S. gubernatorial elections, 2007
*State of Louisiana
*Governors of Louisiana

External links

* [http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov/cgibin/?rqstyp=CNDMD&rqsdta=102007&ID=10012919 Louisiana Secretary of State]

Campaign sites

Democratic

* [http://www.governorboasso.org/ Walter Boasso for Governor web site]
* [http://fostercampbell.com/ Foster Campbell for Governor web site]
* [http://www.vinnymendoza.com/ Vinny Mendoza for Governor web site]

Republican

* [http://www.bobbyjindal.com Bobby Jindal for Governor web site]

Libertarian

* [http://www.governor.ws/ T. Lee Horne for Governor web site]

Independent

* [http://www.tonygforgov.com/ Anthony Gentile for Governor web site]
* [http://www.georgesforgovernor.com/ John Georges for Governor web site]


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