NEW ORLEANS (AP- An Indian-American running as a conservative Republican will face Louisiana’s female lieutenant governor in a November runoff for the Louisiana governorship, after a hard-fought primary contest Saturday
With 94 percent of the vote counted, Bobby Jindal had 33 percent, and Kathleen Blanco had 18 percent, with 415,368 votes and 229,954 votes respectively.
Saturday’s result signaled a change in this conservative Deep South state, where white males have dominated politics, and been elected governor, for generations.
Underscoring the change, Blanco told cheering supporters in the Cajun town of Lafayette: “This is a new day for Louisiana. You have a Cajun woman against an Asian-American, and I’m telling you, it speaks to the whole nation.”
Jindal rocketed to an early lead Saturday, but the fight for the second runoff spot was close, with three Democrats, including Blanco, competing for Louisiana’s substantial black vote, 30 percent of the electorate.
Attorney General Richard Ieyoub finished just behind Blanco with 17 percent, or 210,874 votes.
Trailing were former Congressman Claude “Buddy” Leach with 14 percent. Former state Senate President Randy Ewing was fifth with 9 percent.
Jindal, the son of Indian immigrants, is a protege of current Gov. Mike Foster and a former assistant secretary in President Bush’s Department of Health and Human Services.
The 32-year-old’s rapid rise has confounded many political experts, and his youth and ethnicity were expected to work against him in a state where former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke scored a majority of white male votes in a statewide run just over a decade ago.
“I’m not a politician, but I am a problem solver,” Jindal told a cheering crowd at a downtown hotel here. “I’m confident that the step we’ve taken to leave behind the politics of old is going to continue.”
Signaling possible difficulties for Blanco, Jindal ran strong even in areas of the state, like the Cajun parishes, where she is favored.
No lieutenant governor has ever been elected governor.
Jindal’s ascent was the surprise of the campaign.
On key issues – economic development, education, health care – most candidates promised little change in this slow-growth state where elections often turn on personalities.
Few gave Jindal much chance when he returned to Louisiana from his job in the Bush administration.
His impressive resume – Rhodes Scholar, high-level state and federal jobs at 32- neutralized his race and youth as issues in the campaign.
But he appealed to Louisiana’s conservatives in radio ads extolling the Ten Commandments and deriding liberals and gun control, while promising fiscal sobriety and few initiatives.
Frequent mention of this Catholic convert’s faith helped shore up support.
In addition, Jindal had the strong backing of Foster, who has served two terms and is barred from running again. Foster made Jindal secretary of the state Department of Health and Hospitals at the age of 24, then appointed him head of Louisiana’s university system.
Watching the returns Saturday night in the governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge, Jindal’s patron, Foster, said: “Now people will really begin to take us seriously as a decent bunch of people.”
Like three of the four leading Democrats, Jindal has promised to put more energy into attracting industry.
In addition, Jindal – along with Ieyoub, Blanco, and Ewing – promised to make Louisiana even more friendly to business by decreasing taxes.
The odd man out was Leach, whose Huey Long-style populist campaign was based on promises to tax big oil companies and raise the minimum wage.
Louisiana is one of three states with a regular governor’s election this year, along with Mississippi and Kentucky.
