Posted on 05/01/2008 7:21:49 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
Poll: Democrat Ahead In Louisiana Special Election A new SurveyUSA poll in Louisiana shows Democrats on track to win this Saturday's special election to fill the vacancy of former Rep. Richard Baker (R), who resigned in February to become a lobbyist.
The poll shows conservative Democrat Don Cazayoux with 50% support, with 41% for GOP candidate Woody Jenkins, a longtime controversial fixture in Louisiana politics.
This seat has not been held by a Democrat since the 1970s, and the district voted 59% for President Bush in 2004, so a Dem win here would be big news indeed.
This cannot be a good sign for us in 08.
How conservative is a conservative democrat?
Perhaps, but I wouldn't count on LA politics being a harbinger for national elections. They're just plain 'ole weird in LA when it comes to politics.
terrible news.
Why was such a weak candidate recruited for the GOP side?
Perhaps. I don't have stats, but it seems that special elections aren't real good predictors for November. BTW: The guy resigned to become a lobbyist? He should be billed for the cost of the special election.
Just imagine what will happen in the ‘08 election after Rush Limbaugh gets the nom for Hillary, and she names Obama VP. Coming soon...
We’ll see, but in my opinion this is what comes of EVERY republican going on every show and stating with certainty this is a bad year for republicans. Have you ever seen the democrats be so stupid?
I have a black neighbor 3 houses from me with whom I have discussed this very scenario. According to him and his friends they will in great numbers do exactly as I have said here.
We should get Dr. Dean to run the GOP. He is running more conservative candidates in Southern States than the Republican Party.
If winning the Governorship in LA was a big deal for Republicans nationwide then why is the liberal ahead in this race? And if he really is ahead and manages to win, then why is THIS race a harbinger of things to come when the much more high profile Governors race was not?
If winning the Governorship in LA was a big deal for Republicans nationwide then why is the liberal ahead in this race? And if he really is ahead and manages to win, then why is THIS race a harbinger of things to come when the much more high profile Governors race was not?
Hell, John McCain was recently in LA assailing the Federal government’s [read WH] handling of Katrina.
The Stupid Party nominated its maverick as its standard bearer. Once the focus is on the general election and McCain starts spouting off on comprehensive immigration reform, global warming, closing Gitmo, etc., Rep turnout is going to be depressed. And the Dems WILL emerge with a unified party with Obama as the nominee and possibly Hillary as the VP. All of the turmoil and infighting in the protracted Dem primaries will serve the Dems in good stead as they set records in participation and generated voter networks in state after state.
Elections like these are the canaries in the coal mine.
I used to live in this district. I would vote for Pete Aranyosi(I) if I could. Even though he is crazy as a loon, it would be a real hoot to see him try to give morning speeches on C-Span.
“Michael Jackson, who lost in the Democratic runoff, is running television commercials not to endorse his party’s nominee Don Cazayoux but to declare to supporters that he is running again in the fall. He told me he intends to seek the full term whether or not Cazayoux wins the special election, which is less likely without a strong black vote that Jackson is doing nothing to encourage.
Jackson sees little point in running again as a Democrat, since local and Washington contributors overwhelmingly favored Cazayoux in the primary and the runoff.
“Why endure the primary process when they (white candidates) have the advatnage?” he said. “Why not make it one run?”
John Maginnis
Democrats Brace for November Revolt
entire article
http://www.lapolitics.com/column.php
also links to some stories about Jindal being against tax cuts in LA, wth is going on, I thought Jindal was conservative.
20.4.08
Republicans supporting Cazayoux disregard his liberalism
Curiously, some self-identified (whether all are registered as such is another matter) Republicans publicly have announced support for Democrat state Rep. Don Cazayoux in the May 3 special election for the U.S. Sixth District. They point to his beliefs “being pro-life, pro-gun and his ideas for national security” as the reason why. Therefore, one only can conclude they remain ignorant or deluded about his record in the state Legislature that does not support causes traditionally aligned with Republicans.
A review of the past three years of Cazayoux’s votes shows a legislator more than willing to raise taxes and fees to fund big government, to spend taxpayers’ dollars on wasteful projects, to neglect wise spending choices, to introduce greater government control over the economy, and to reduce citizens’ economic choices, among other things. Some of his more outrageous examples follow:
Regarding his views on government intervention into the economy, in 2005, he voted to put a floor on gasoline prices, artificially raising them, and in 2006 voted to increase them again potentially by mandating the use of alternative fuels at a certain point, for increasing the minimum wage which would have hurt business and the economy, and for allowing local government passing through revenue-raising on cable television bills and to restrict consumer choice in that area, and last year voted against the privatization of the state’s troubled insurer.
Concerning his record on taxing and spending, in 2005, he voted to increase taxes on health care providers, that enabled increased government spending, which would have been passed through to consumers, while last year he voted to authorize building of a palatial replacement for New Orleans’ charity hospital that would facilitate continuance of Louisiana’s present costly, inefficient indigent health car provision regime.
Reviewing the kinds of spending priorities he favors, in 2005 he voted to enable more money to be spent on the dubious “economic development” projects around the state, the building of reservoirs, in this case in Morehouse Parish, while in 2006 he did the same for the existing Poverty Point reservoir.
Last year, on several measures designed to reduce government spending that could have led to a tax cut, to cut the size of government through eliminating long-term vacant positions, and to prevent pay raises going to these “ghost” positions, he voted against all of them.
While a vocal of supporter of banning types of free tickets to legislators this year, in 2006 he voted against an almost-identical measure.
In 2006, he voted to extend government protections to practitioners of homosexuality, which would have embroiled government in needless litigation.
Finally, he practices enthusiastically what many are growing to dislike, earmarks, a practice that his Republican opponent Louis “Woody” Jenkins says he will stop.
What also should be causing severe cognitive dissonance for these Republicans is Cazayoux has had a fairly populist and liberal record overall in the Legislature. Over the past three years his scores on the voting scorecard produced in my Louisiana Legislature Log gives him numbers (where 0 is “perfectly” liberal/populist) of 44, 30, and 10. Either these Republicans are not very bright or are willfully ignorant if they cannot see Cazayoux does not believe in the ideas that Republicans typically do.
These wayward GOP identifiers are playing right into the hands of Cazayoux’s campaign which is trying to portray Cazayoux as more conservative than he actually is so he does not seem as out-of-touch which the district as much as he really is. Just because you cherry-pick a few conservative positions does not make you one, and if these Republicans themselves are conservatives they should know that.
I’ve heard Louisiana politics are, shall we say different? Anyway, thanks for the heads up.
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