Posted on 01/21/2006 7:59:46 AM PST by LdSentinal
Blanco's supporters circulated reports that she should be elected to protect the pensions of state workers, most of whom have seen pension decreases since she took office. People have a hard time catching on.
Remember, Nagin endorsed Jindal in 2003 over Blanco.
The Sad Little Secret of the Jindall loss to Blanco is that he still would have lost if not one Blanco vote was counted in Orleans Parrish.
In other words the race was not won in New Orleans but rather in Bayou Country.
Actually, Jindal was not that strong in 2003; he performed quite modestly in rural northern LA parishes usually won by Republicans. Many of the old David Duke parishes, for instance, supported Blanco.
Theodore R. is correct, LA still holds a jungle primary for state races a few weeks before November (in the 2006 legislative or municipal or whatever races, it will be on September 30; in the 2007 statewide state-level races, it will be in October). The run-off for state races is on the congressional election day in early November, except for the statewide run-off held later in November (since there aren't any congressional races in odd-numbered years). Here's the schedule for 2007: http://www.sec.state.la.us/elections/Calendar-2007-Elections.htm
Another way to explain the peculiar LA election timetable is that congressional primaries are held on the same Tuesday as the general elections in the other 49 states. If no one wins the congressional jungle primary outright, there is a "general election runoff" between the top two candidates regardless of party set for the first Saturday in December. Democrats have long preferred Saturday elections in LA because it is easier to turn out passive voters on weekends than during the week.
The LA congressional primary on general election day was actually required by a federal court order, not LA law.
Long time until November 2007.
I wish Mr. Jindal good fortune.
The court decision said that the system formerly used by LA for congressional elections (which is identical to the system still used for state elections) violated the federal law providing for a uniform election day for congressional elections; the problem was that if a candidate got 50%+1 in the jungle primary, he was deemed elected, and thus it resulted in Senators and Representatives getting elected weeks before members of Congress from other states. LA could have gotten rid of the jungle primary and substituted a regular primary in September, and then have the general election in November, but since Democrats in LA wanted to keep the jungle-primary format they moved the congressional jungle primary to the November Election Day and scheduled run-offs for December (if necessary).
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