Free Republic

BATON ROUGE — Amid criticism that the Louisiana Democratic Party has abandoned black voters and lost its focus, the head of a Fortune 500 company was chosen Saturday as the party's chairman. James Bernhard, the top official at The Shaw Group Inc., was the unanimous selection of the Democratic State Central Committee. He replaces Mike Skinner, a former U.S. attorney, who quit late last year after the party took a battering in the fall elections. Bernhard had the support of such top Democrats as Gov. Kathleen Blanco, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and U.S. Rep. William Jefferson. After his election, Bernhard...

It's Over for Kerry in Louisiana; Are Other State Democrat Hopefuls Next? PoliticsLA.com Commentary By Prof. Jeff Sadow July 28, 2004 It's now officially over in Louisiana but it was really over five months ago: President George W. Bush was assured of carrying the state as soon as Sen. John Kerry emerged as the presumptive Democrat nominee. Officially over because Democrats have pulled any organized ad campaign for Kerry and even Republicans have dispatched party workers from Louisiana to hotter campaign spots. A recent poll confirmed this, with Bush having an almost insurmountable lead in the state. One must wonder...