| Louisiana Gubernatorial Election, 2003 |
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BACKGROUND Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the open primary system. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party. {Link without Title} In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 4 , 2003 , and the runoff was held on November 15 , 2003 . CANDIDATES Democrats
Republicans
CAMPAIGN Departing governor Mike Foster was disqualified from succeeding himself for a third term by Louisiana's constitution, so the 2003 race was perceived as wide open and saw a large number of candidates enter the campaign. The primary phase of the campaign was characterized by the large number of strong Democratic contenders. Ieyoub was seen as one of the strongest Democratic candidates throughout the campaign, and only narrowly lost a slot in the runoff to Blanco, who had a strong base of support in the Acadian parishes and among women voters. The efforts of Leach to appeal to the same base as Ieyoub led them to split the Democratic vote and to come in third and fourth. The leading Republican candidate, by contrast, was chosen fairly early on. Jindal took a commanding lead among Republican supporters early in the campaign, leaving Hunt Downer far behind. In the runoff, Jindal received endorsements from the largest paper in Louisiana the Times Picayune , the Democratic Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin (who had supported Ewing in the primary but declined to endorse Blanco in the runoff), and Republican former governor Mike Foster . Some political analysts believe that his narrow loss was partly due to racism. Other political analysts have blamed Jindal for his refusal to answer questions about his record brought up in several ads, which the Jindal campaign called "negative attack ads". Still others note that a significant number of conservative Louisianans remain more comfortable voting for a conservative Democrat than for a Republican. The runoff between Bobby Jindal and Kathleen Blanco brought two 'firsts' for Louisiana political history. If elected, Jindal would have been the United States' first Indian-American governor. The victorious Blanco became Louisiana's first woman governor. RESULTS First voting round, October 4 Runoff, November 15 SOURCES |
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