Bobby Jindal Lost Opportunity With The African American Vote

If I had one misgiving with the Jindal campaign for Governor in Louisiana it is with the African American vote. Bobby lost black voters in this election. Now the reason are clear and it happens every election cycle. Money is a precious resource in campaigns. That is followed closely by a candidates time. In Bobby's case he had the money but because of his job in DC time was more limited. Despite we Republicans talking every year how we shall engage minorities we often play it safe and go where the dollar will yield more results. That is not racism but just the facts of life.

However I do think Jindal had a opportunity to engage black voters more in this election. He should have done it. Those relationship would be helpful in making Louisiana a better place to live. Also on a political level it would have paid dividends for future elections. I am of the theory that while the Democrat party has such a lock on the black vote on the local, state, and national level many problems we face will never be solved. The issue is not so much the ideas of the democrat party. The issue is an absolute smothering of new ideas and debate that the two party system facilitates. When 80 to 90 percent of African American voters vote Democrat that does not occur.

I agree with the Prof Sadow that after looking at the returns I am willing to bet Bobby Jindal got around ten percent of the African vote. I think that is sad in many regards. I really urge people to read his post Black votes for Jindal least of LA Democrats' worries . I think it well done. If i have time today I will do my comprehensive post on the election that was just held.

Let me engage one part of his post:
These figures confirm the conventional wisdom that depopulation of New Orleans as a result of the hurricane disasters is affecting elections. That 23 percent drop represents about 42,000 black, mainly Democrat, voters. Combine this with non-estimated totals of depopulation of St. Bernard Parish, to a smaller degree Jefferson Parish (both which would be more Democrats than Republicans, although not as unbalanced as the Orleans losses), and turnout in this election probably is higher than in 2003.Regardless, the preliminary numbers do suggest that 2005’s Katrina has made electoral life more difficult for Democrats at the statewide level.

I agree with that to a large extent. However I would caution Republicans not to think the Democrat get out the vote machine is dead. This election I think is a bad one to see how bad it has been damaged. There was in the end no serious Democrat contender in the race. I think this machine can be rebuilt and these numbers be made up in North Louisiana. Did we not see a trial run of that in the last Shreveport's mayor race?

The real indication of how bad Louisiana Democrats have been damaged will be next years US Senate Race. US Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu will be running for again. It is assumed that John Kennedy will be the Republican nominee. We should say assumed because next year we shall have CLOSED PRIMARIES for these races. However if Mary gets the nod, which I expect, she will not give her seat easily. Also she has in her corner one of the best African American politicians in the state. That is Lydia Jackson from Shreveport. Senator Jackson saved Mary's Landrieu's fat from the proverbial fire last time in the Terrell race. IF the GOP wishes to win the next US senate race , then it must must must engage black voters or it will lose.