BATON ROUGE, La., Oct. 21, 2007
Louisiana Governor To Be Youngest In U.S.
36-year-old Son of Indian Immigrants Beats 11 Opponents In Louisiana Gubernatorial Race
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Louisiana Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal and his wife Supriya and son Shann Robert enjoy the cameras as they watch early returns in their hotel room at their election night party headquarters in Baton Rouge, Oct. 20, 2007. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)
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Photo Essay Gulf Coast Marks 2 Years Somber ceremonies on anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall.
Jindal, the Republican 36-year-old son of Indian immigrants, carried more than half the vote against 11 opponents. With about 92 percent of the vote in, Jindal had 53 percent with 625,036 votes - more than enough to win outright and avoid a Nov. 17 runoff.
"Let's give our homeland, the great state of Louisiana, a fresh start," Jindal said to cheers and applause from a crowd that began chanting his name at his victory party.
His nearest competitors: Democrat Walter Boasso with 208,690 votes or 18 percent; Independent John Georges had 1167,477 votes or 14 percent; Democrat Foster Campbell had 151,101 or 13 percent. Eight candidates divided the rest.
"I'm asking all of our supporters to get behind our new governor," Georges said in a concession speech.
The Oxford-educated Jindal 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 but was widely believed to have his eye on the governor's mansion.
Blanco opted not to run for re-election after she was widely blamed for the state's slow response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
The incumbent told CBS News affiliate WAFB that this is the first time in 24 years that she is not on an election ballot and she's enjoying the vacation from the political sniping.
"They would have begun attacking me because that's just the way the political game is played," Blanco said. "What I'm hoping is that the right person gets elected who will not stop the momentum of the things we have accomplished in our four years, but build on it."
When he takes office in January, Jindal will become the nation's youngest governor in office. He pledged 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, adding that he would call the Legislature into special session to address ethics reform.
Political analysts said Jindal built up support as a sort of "buyer's remorse" from people who voted for Blanco last time and had second thoughts about 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.
"I think the Jindal camp, almost explicitly, (wanted) to cast it this way: If you were able to revote, who would you vote for?" said Pearson Cross, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette political scientist.
Jindal has held a strong lead in the polls since the field of candidates became settled nearly two months ago.
But the two multimillionaires in the race - Boasso, a state senator from St. Bernard Parish, and Georges, a New Orleans-area businessman - poured millions of their own dollars into their campaigns to try to prevent Jindal's victory.
Campbell, a public service commissioner from Bossier Parish, had less money but ran on a singular plan: scrapping the state income tax on businesses and individuals and levying a new tax on oil and gas processed in Louisiana.
The race was one of the highest-spending in Louisiana history. Jindal alone raised $11 million, and Georges poured about $10 million of his personal wealth into his campaign war chest while Boasso plugged in nearly $5 million of his own cash.
A victory Saturday would be a rare trip to statewide office for a minority in the South - in a state that 16 years ago famously saw a former Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke, in a runoff for governor. Duke lost that race.
The victory marks a rare trip to statewide office for a minority in the South - in a state that 16 years ago famously saw a former Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke, in a runoff for governor. Duke lost that race.
Some black political leaders complained Saturday of problems at polls in New Orleans, where many people have moved around since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.
State Elections Commissioner Angie LaPlace said she had expected many complaints because a check of voters' addresses found that a "ton" had moved, and those whose mail is forwarded must vote in the precinct where they now get mail.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 53 CommentsWhy Don''t You Know Ron Paul?
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New Orleans is no liberal utopia, and the word "utopia", itself, means "nowhere" (in case that slipped by you).
If you knew more about what happened to FEMA, you never would have blamed anybody but Bush. Under liberal Clinton, FEMA got its highest marks and approval from the states.
But under Bush, Sr. and Bush, Jr., FEMA became a rest-home for Bush political cronies, and basically fell into ruin. FEMA''''s budget was axed and axed again by an indifferent Bush to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and fiascos in the MidEast. Bush crippled FEMA''''s outreach and coordination with the states, and FEMA''''s best people were allowed to leave the agency.
One year before Katrina, Bush was comatose about the threat to New Orleans from a major hurricane, and refused to authorize sound, permanent reworking of the levee system around the city, sealing its fate.
The chief of the US Army Corps of Engineers resigned under pressure when he vigorously protested the years of Bush budgetary neglect.
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Posted by alphaa10 at 11:54 PM : Oct 21, 2007
Well said alpha - another right wing zealot looking for any Repug hope this election - sorry he will have none. We''ll see what key he sings in come Jan. 2008.
The people of the state think for themselves and proved it at the polls. This is just the start of the Democrats downfall. I said the best thing that could happen was for us to lose the midterm elections, the Demonbats have had over a year now and have not done squat!!
As for the deficit, take a look lib, it''s going down and we are still at war. We can thank bubba for gutting the military during his regime. You know, when he was supposedly on top of terrorism which culminated in 9/11.
Oh yea, you guys don''t believe in terrorism do you. Just race baiting and class envy.
So, send your money back.
And maybe, just maybe, he''ll turn the state around. Then again, you libs love victims.
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Right. There are people who believe every word Faux News Network brings them. But there always is something to be said for good camerawork.
Would you say Halliburton is earning its keep?
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New Orleans is no liberal utopia, and the word "utopia", itself, means "nowhere" (in case that slipped by you).
If you knew more about what happened to FEMA, you never would have blamed anybody but Bush. Under liberal Clinton, FEMA got its highest marks and approval from the states.
But under Bush, Sr. and Bush, Jr., FEMA became a rest-home for Bush political cronies, and basically fell into ruin. FEMA''s budget was axed and axed again by an indifferent Bush to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and fiascos in the MidEast. Bush crippled FEMA''s outreach and coordination with the states, and FEMA''s best people were allowed to leave the agency.
One year before Katrina, Bush was comatose about the threat to New Orleans from a major hurricane, and refused to authorize sound, permanent reworking of the levee system around the city, sealing its fate.
The chief of the US Army Corps of Engineers resigned under pressure when he vigorously protested the years of Bush budgetary neglect.
As for Bobby Jindal being the our new governor elect I am very pleased. He is a very intelligent man and I hope he does a good job as governor.
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No taxes from the GOP? Think again, Dumbeau! The GOP has raised taxes for our grandchildren by six years of greedy and foolish Bush fiscal policy, not to mention Bush''s huge $500 billion-plus Iraqscam on America.
Our grandkids also will pay for Bush tax breaks to his pet group, which Bush calls the HaveMores. Bush will borrow and spend, borrow and spend, and let others cover his debt. That "other" is the American taxpayer.
You ask, "What have Democrats done?" Only one who hasn''t paid attention is unaware the GOP minority still has the votes to block Democratic bills, and also can prevent the congress from overriding a Bush veto. Bush vetoed no GOP session bills for any reason, but now uses political correctness to stop even funding for federal government functions under the Democratic leadership. This is called gridlock, and Bush and the GOP is proud to make it happen.
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Not really. He masqueraded as a fiscal conservative, but his spoils system and crony politics rewarded camp followers lavishly with no-bid contracts in taxpayer dollars-- a bad hahit which only became worse when he went to Washington.
Bush had a $1 billion Tax "budget surplus"-- but then overspent the surplus in a $1.7 billion tax break (quid pro quo) for the wealthy minority (oilmen, agricultural combines, developers and lobbies) that was his campaign funding base. Following that, Bush had to charge Texas citizens $600 million more for Medicaid and prison costs. Net result-- more burden for the average taxpayer to fund the Bush tax break for his wealthy clientele..The same bad habit became his national tax policy, handing the wealthy minority he annointed "the HaveMores" massive, unaffordable tax breaks. then borrowing on the US national debt to make it up, on paper.
Bush also called himself a "compassionate conservative", yet set a record for the number of executions. Bush steadily ignored regions of outright squalor along the Texas border towns and turned a blind eye to nutritional needs of 1 million small children, despite available federal funds. Bush refused to sign a Texas hate crimes law, saluted South Carolina''s decision to fly a Confederate flag over its capitol and visited Bob Jones University, known at the time for its racist policies.
Posted by rmsdm4
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I am in total agreement with you. You know what FEMA stands for? Fix everything my A$$
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