With all the attention on the CA race it is not generally known Louisiana holds a gubernatorial election tomorrow. What is interesting is that the leading candidate is an Indian-American, Bobby Jindal, who is a graduate of Brown University with honors in biology and public policy and holds a graduate degree from Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. It wasn't too many years ago Louisiana was "head over heels" in love with racist David Duke, who nearly won the gubernatorial runoff. Now, the Pelican State stands on the verge of electing this 32-year old Indian-American scholar. Wow!
IIRC, Duke was a state senator, meaning that a certain portion of the state was in love with him. I don't believe he was ever elected to a statewide office. Unfortunately, you could go to any state and find a certain electoral district that would elect a racist.
Actually he received 44% of the statewide vote for U.S. Senator against incumbent J. Bennett Johnston in 1990 and won 40% of the statewide vote for governor a year later. So, he did have significant statewide support.
But, as I stated, he never won a statewide office. The fact that he won 44% and 40% in his 2 runs for statewide offices should be an embarassment to the residents of Louisiana.
I agree completely. My point was that he did have significant statewide support and I thought you indicated he didn't by stating he only held a legislative seat wherein only a portion of the state voted. Anyway, we do agree it was an embarassment. But, the good news is that Louisiana has redeemed itself. The runoff for governor will be between two minority groups, an Indian-American (Piyush Jindal) and a woman (Kathleen Blanco). This is remarkable in a state that fought integration and was once ruled by arch segrationists like Leander Perez, voted for Goldwater and Wallace and, as previously stated, gave David Duke a significant vote in two statewide races. The news seems to indicate Jindal's being a Rhodes scholar and having held high-level state and federal positions played a significant role in his winning the open primary and advancing to the runoff.
