Well, we had an election Saturday in Louisiana, and - save for one close call exception - the politicians won. I didn't get a chance to comment on the event yesterday, as there were far too many must do things to tackle, which had been ignored the previous two days. So, here's a quick assessment.
The turnout appears to have been something on the order of 35%. Of course, that means tight races could have been decided by candidates hauling in second cousins and casual acquaintances. Supposedly, it was the sort of day on which we could have done exceedingly well, were we anything like our enemies claim we are ... that is to say organized. But the bulk of us are just as lame, lazy, disaffected and unconcerned as the average Joe Blow.
Still, the propaganda which tars us as some vast, dark, and dangerous conspiratorial force to be feared and shunned at all costs works very well on the clueless citizen. It almost succeeded in keeping Chad Lauga from making the run-off in his race for district 103 in the Louisiana House. A mere day or two before the vote, Chad was polling in front of the pack by a comfortable margin. But the last minute Republican funded hate mail which went out to targeted white voters eroded 8 points from his lead virtually over night. The mailing labeled Chad a liberal extremist member of and lobbyist for one of the most liberal organizations in the country, the IBEW.
Actually, we all know that is not true, even though I wish it were. Most people nowadays think the SPCA is some kind of devilish liberal outfit because it holds such strange beliefs like we should not allow our house pets and four-legged loyal friends to be tortured and tormented in their lives. Nevertheless, a long day of arduous ground game effort by the relatively few stout and dependable IBEW volunteers, who literally went door-to-door imploring our voters to get out, managed to pull Chad into the run-off, barely. Next month, many more need to do much better or the result will be far worse.
There is much more regarding the dismal state of our one-party Republican rule here in Louisiana which needs to be addressed, but time does not permit now. Coming up in the next post.
My short summary. David Vitter probably isn't too happy that his high profile endorsements of Nungesser and Tucker didn't work out. Jindal put a lot of money into legislative races but that doesn't look to have paid off as overwhelmingly as it could have.
ReplyDeleteThe two BESE runoffs are probably the biggest deal going right now. Jindal put money in those races and needs those seats in order to push his privatization agenda which looks like his highest priority in a second term.. well second highest priority if you count trying to become President someday.
Anyway it was a good night for Jindal personally, a less than satisfying night for Vitter and potentially a catastrophic night for public education in Louisiana.
35% turnout in a statewide race with Governor as the headliner is beyond pathetic. I don't even recognize this state anymore.
Jeff
The Bese runoffs are definitely important, but the Lauga race is more of a table-setter and overall political environment game changer, simply on the strength of it being a Labor vs. the assholes contest. Much like the RTW law effect.
ReplyDeleteAl