Free Republic

<p>BATON ROUGE -- State Rep. Melinda Schwegmann announced Monday that she is switching her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican and will run for her former office of lieutenant governor in the October primary.</p> <p>Addressing the House floor on the last day of the legislative session, the New Orleans representative said she "felt somewhat abandoned by many Democrats, while at the same time, I have been embraced and encouraged to run by numerous Republicans."</p>

Three states are electing state officers (governor, attorney general, et al) in 2003, and so far Republicans are fielding a more ethnically diverse slate of candidates than are Democrats.  Currently no ethnic minority holds statewide office in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Kentucky, but Republicans have the potential to put forward four nominees and Democrats two, both in Mississippi.KentuckyRepublican Osi Onyekwuluje is a (black) Nigerian immigrant seeking the office of state auditor.  Onyekwuluje (pronounced On-yay-kool-oo-jay) came to the United States as a teenager, obtained a law degree in 1987 and has served the public as an assistant state attorney general, Kentucky...