Posted on 11/23/2015 7:19:21 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Saturday, Democrats elected their first governor in the Deep South in eight years, as Louisiana state legislator John Bel Edwards defeated GOP U.S. senator David Vitter. The Democrats' double-digit victory in Louisiana makes up for their losing the Kentucky governorship to Republicans three weeks ago. But Edwards's victory does little to change the unpopularity of Democrats in the South.
Edwards worked hard to separate himself from the liberal wing of his party on social issues. He was unabashedly pro-gun and anti-abortion, and he emphasized that he's a graduate of West Point who had served in Iraq as an Army Ranger. That record won over voters while Vitter had to contend with a public backlash against a decade-old prostitution scandal.
Edwards clobbered Vitter with one of the most effective attack ads ever -- it accused Vitter of answering a call from a prostitute only hours after he had skipped a vote honoring military veterans. The ad concluded with the words "David Vitter chose prostitutes over patriots." When Vitter entered the general election, his two major Republican opponents in the primary -- Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne and Public Service Commissioner Scott Angell -- declined to endorse him. Dardenne eventually endorsed Edwards; Angell refused to endorse anyone.
RELATED: Trailing Badly and Running Out of Time, Vitter Goes on Offense in Louisiana
Edwards also was helped by the fact that outgoing GOP governor Bobby Jindal, in the wake of budget crisis and falling oil prices, had approval ratings approaching 20 percent. Jindal, for his part, was a bitter political enemy of Vitter's and also declined to endorse him.
But political pros are under no illusions that Edwards's victory shifted the fundamentals of Louisiana politics.
"A Republican ought to win automatically," Charlie Cook, a Louisiana native and author of the Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C., told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "If Vitter's name had never come up in the D.C Madam [prostitution] case, we would be looking at a 10 to 15 point win" for the Republican.
Indeed, the GOP triumphed everywhere further down the ballot. A Republican won the race for lieutenant governor easily, and former GOP congressman Jeff Landry crushed incumbent attorney general Buddy Caldwell, a former Democrat who switched to the GOP to appeal to conservative voters. Republicans expanded their majorities in both houses of the legislature and will thus serve as a curb on any liberal tendencies exhibited by a new Governor Edwards.
Education reformers are trying to bolster their support in the legislature so they can limit any damage Edwards might do to the state's thriving charter-school and voucher programs. In New Orleans, a reform effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has resulted in 91 percent of students attending charter schools, and the results are impressive: The number of students that can read and do math at their actual grade level in New Orleans has doubled in the last five years.
During the campaign, a pro-reform education group produced TV ads and mailers pointing out that public-school teachers' unions that oppose choice have long thrown their support behind Edwards. But the teachers' unions lost a big battle this past week when a federal appeals court overturned a lower-court ruling that the Department of Justice had the right to perform a "pre-clearance" of Louisiana vouchers. The court ruling ended a two-year effort by the Obama administration to deny children from low-income families better educational opportunities -- under the pretext of promoting integration. Studies have shown no increase in racial segregation under Louisiana's post-Katrina school-choice program.
The issue of educational funding will be front and center in Louisiana next year when the state tackles a $500 million budget deficit -- Edwards has proposed doubling higher-education spending.
John Bel Edwards won a rare victory as a Democrat in the South by promising he wouldn't be a liberal. We will soon see just how real those assurances are -- we'll learn whether he is more interested in the agenda of teachers' unions or in continuing to help low-income kids escape failing schools.
-- John Fund is National Review Online's national-affairs correspondent.
True, it may not be a sign of the Democrat party’s revival,
but I do believe it is a sign of the American voter’s disgust with the Republican Party.
A democrat who is pro-gun and pro-life, a West Point Graduate and a Veteran beat a sleazy republican who used hookers and alienated every single conservative in his state in the primary.
I am SURE the democrats will be able to copy this WINNING strategy.
Not really. This is a one time deal.
No, but their wins in the Governors Race and Supreme Court races here in PA may be.
They have truly taken their Alinsky gutterball tactics to a whole new level with those.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3363877/posts
John Bel Edwards calls Medicaid expansion ‘among the highest priorities’
The (New Orleans) Times Picayune ^ | November 22, 2015 | Kevin Litten
Posted on 11/23/2015, 4:06:46 AM by abb
Governor-elect John Bel Edwards called expanding Medicaid “among the highest priorities” of his new administration, though he said Sunday (Nov. 22) he may not be able to approve an expanded program on Day One.
The only Republican/Conservative that lost in Louisiana last Saturday was David Vitter, a terrible, flawed candidate. Both the Lt. Governor & Attorney General slots were handily won by Republican candidates. The newly elected Governor, Democrat, John Bel Edwards, is standing alone against a total field of Republican Conservatives!!! The Democrat won nothing of any stature last Saturday.....other then thousands of Republican/Conservatives that could just not stand David Vitter!!!
Ya all can thank Bobby Jindal and the state Republican Party for this loss. They both knew that Vitter was zero from the gitgo!!! The ggod news is that Vitter has stated, he will not run for re-election to the U.S. Senate, next year!!!
All the Dems had to do was run commercials against Vitter with the theme song from American Gigolo-—”Call me”.
There is no such thing as a good democrat.
Yep, Louisiana is a place where strange electoral things happen - like the Vietnamese attorney taking the U.S. House seat away from William "Cold Cash" Jefferson.
...Followed by his post-electoral mad dash back toward the liberal wing of his party on social issues.
Nice wins for the GOP on the Louisiana downticket races... Like the state Senate and House of Delegates here in Virginia have rendered Terry McAuliffe relatively harmless, the same will happen in LA.
Politics are local. Edwards' election was a sign of disgust at a man like Vitter and fallout from the absolute mess Jindal left the state budget in. If the Dems think that they can cruise to a Senate win next year then they may be disappointed. That, too, will depend on who the nominees are.
RE: the absolute mess Jindal left the state budget in.
This is interesting to me. The only way Louisiana’s budget would be a mess is Jindal cut taxes and then INCREASED SPENDING TO AN INTOLERABLE LEVEL. Did he do that?
I'd like to see Col. Maness run for that seat.
No, Jindal cut taxes and then he couldn't cut spending enough to offset the loss of revenue.
Election Results Oct. 24, 2015
Governor
| Scott A. Angelle (R) | 19.29% | 214982 |
| Beryl Billiot (N) | 0.51% | 5694 |
| "Jay" Dardenne (R) | 14.96% | 166656 |
| Cary Deaton (D) | 1.06% | 11763 |
| John Bel Edwards (D) | 39.89% | 444517 |
| Jeremy "JW" Odom (N) | 0.43% | 4756 |
| Eric Paul Orgeron (O) | 0.20% | 2248 |
| S L Simpson (D) | 0.67% | 7420 |
| David Vitter (R) | 23.00% | 256300 |
|
Lieutenant Governor |
||
| Melvin L. "Kip" Holden (D) | 33.29% | 361092 |
| "Billy" Nungesser (R) | 29.94% | 324849 |
| John Young (R) | 28.89% | 313364 |
Attorney General
| Geraldine "Geri" Broussard Baloney (D) | 17.62% | 187575 |
| James D. "Buddy" Caldwell (R) | 35.36% | 376407 |
| Isaac "Ike" Jackson (D) | 10.82% | 115188 |
| "Jeff" Landry (R) | 32.65% | 347605 |
| "Marty" Maley (R) | 3.55% | 37830 |
Total adjusted state spending plan (in billions):
Blanco
2006-2007: $26.718
2007-2008: $29.805
Jindal
2008-2009: $29.732
2009-2010: $28.986
2010-2011: $25.488
2011-2012: $25.387
2012-2013: $25.627
2013-2014: $25.416
2014-2015: $25.519
State Civil Service employees*
Blanco
2006: 92,944
2007: 97,255
Jindal
2008: 100,473
2009: 100,486
2010: 95,243
2011: 88,874
2012: 85,863
2013: 74,852
2014: 70,236
2015: 69,150 (as of June 26)
Source:
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.