Posted on 09/10/2011 9:35:34 AM PDT by BBell
The stroke of 5 p.m. Thursday marked a dark moment in the history of the Louisiana Democratic Party. For the first time in modern memory, the party did not field a single major candidate for statewide office.
"When the qualifying closed yesterday, I think we moved into a new era," said Baton Rouge pollster Bernie Pinsonat, who works for both Republican and Democratic candidates. "It's not surprising, we've been moving that way for the last 12 to 15 years.
"Then along came Barack Obama, with policies that alienated even more Louisianians, and of course, shutting down oil drilling."
Just as in the days of Democratic dominance, Pinsonat said, "the new reality is Republicans vs. Republicans."
It's been a stunning slide for Louisiana Democrats, who resisted the Republican tide longer than their counterparts in other Deep South states.
"If you had described the landscape today in Louisiana to me when I was a freshman state representative, when Edwin Edwards was governor, I would have thought you were smoking something, that you were absolutely crazy. I couldn't have imagined that level of Republican growth," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who has become a key figure in his party's rise.
As recently as 2005, when he was playing a lead role in creating the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority, with their stated objective to win majorities in the state House and Senate, Vitter said even allies in Baton Rouge "scoffed at the idea."
Vitter said he believes that Republican ascendance is both a matter of ideology and, in Louisiana, the party's ability to claim the mantle of reform in a state long encrusted with "the corruption and cronyism" of the Democratic "courthouse crowd."
In its broadest strokes, though, what has happened in Louisiana is what has happened across the South and especially the Deep South. Emory University's
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Meet the new boss...
We still have to root out some RINOs at the local level...
Pretty much the same through out the South at this point.
Ya know Joe those lap puppies of yours sure look like they are abused.
Beautiful dogs and they sure look healthy and happy in those photos.
You get many folks breaking in to your home trying to steal their supper dishes?
Most potential intruders tend to trip and stumble over the chewed up cattle skeletons in the yard before they ever make it to the manor :-)
Looks like Louisiana is the smartest state in the union
I am shocked at this. If the Democrats aren’t running candidates for office, they are throwing in the towel before a campaign gets underway.
I wonder though, if the image of Democrats is behind this. Do many people think that the Democrats are the party of gays, feminists, racial minorities, environmental extremists, etc?????
If so, 2012 could really be a blood bath for the Democrats, from Obama at the top of the ticket down to local races for state legislatures and mayors of small towns. If one of our two major parties becomes so identified as the party of extremists, kooks, crackpots, bizarre lifestyles, etc., that party will not be able to elect many people to office.
When I registered Republican in 1975 at my Parish Courthouse, I was told I was the 3rd person in that Parishes history to do so.
Eliminating welfare would cause an exodus of the Welfare Class and make LA conservative for generations.
IIRC, I registered GOP in 1979 either right before or right after Treen was elected Gov. And FWIW, I’m voting for and supporting Cao for Atty General. He said on a radio interview yesterday one of his goals was local government public corruption.
We’ve been fighting for a year to get the thieving mayor of Jonesboro indicted, but can’t get Caldwell to lift a finger. The local DA and the mayor are in each others’ pocket, so that too is a a problem.
No, we got our wake up call with Katrina.
Eliminating welfare would cause an exodus of the Welfare Class and make LA conservative for generations.
IMHO, the current strength of the Republican Party in LA is centered primarily on two things...first was the Blanco/Nagin ineptitude during Katrina, and more immediately the virtual moratorium on drilling.
The porcine Mary Landrieu is safe for a few more years (2014), but if the dynamic continues, I'd imagine she needs to start thinking about alternate career plans as well.
LOL. My you can pack a lot into three short words. Same idea flashed through my mind, but I couldn’t beat three words.
How long before the sleaze and corruption emerge?
I’m also rooting for Cao.
-PJ
-PJ
Charm wit and levity
will win you in the start,
but in the end it’s brevity
that keeps the public’s heart...
The out-migration of about 100K welfare voters during the Katrina evacuation didn't hurt either.
True enough, but I view that as a byproduct or spinoff of Blanco/Nagin’s ineptitude. I’m sure they’d have kept those voters in place had they been able to.
Come on Joe,
After the pic of them kittys with that bear,
Thems lap dogs and lovers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.