Democrats pick up a seat!
Kudos to the citizens of Louisiana’s 6th district for electing Cazayoux over Woody Jenkins. Of course, the choice of Woody Jenkins wasn’t that much of a choice at all. With ties to David Duke and false claims of voter fraud, it is amazing that he managed to get over 40% of the vote. I guess with Jindal’s endorsement, the DHJS will do whatever he wants, including voting for unethical people.
Unfortunately, the Democrats could not pick up two seats. Idealism won out over effectiveness in LA01. Of course, speaking from experience, running in the most conservative district in the state doesn’t help you if you have a “D” behind your name. Gilda did get a larger percentage of the vote than any one Democrat has gotten in a while in this district, but with low voter turnout that only turned out to be about 10,000 votes. It is amazing that in a time where Republicans are so unpopular nationwide that the Democrats in this district are still lazy and uninterested.
So, all that is left now is for Scalise to go to Washington and prove how ineffective he can be… that is until he runs for his next seat leaving LA01 unrepresented yet again.
For a comical, typo filled, look at the LA06 race, check out Avman’s rant. Avman also wonders why Democrats would put money into the race that he feels will go back to the Republicans in the fall. The simple answer is this, they believed they could win (especially against Jenkins) and the power of the incumbency makes it much easier for the person sitting in the seat to retain the seat.
Update: An excellent comment by Gilda, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Please do not hurt for me. I am fine with my election loss last night and, in fact, am relieved to become a regular mom, grammy and teacher again. We local Democrats worked hard and I fully appreciate every single thing you did to spread the word. I have made life-long friends among you.
Only 10,000 folks voted for me which is an abysmal performance. To all the rest who either voted for Scalise or who chose not to vote at all—you have the representative you deserve. To all those in the national Democratic Party who perpetuated the reality of a Republican district by your statements, attitude and choke-hold on funds—shame on you! To all media, political pundits and dKos contributors who fed the self-fulfilling prophecy and stacked the deck against whomever dared run—enjoy your power. I have laid to rest any illusion I had of the power of grassroots. My dues have been paid and my conscience is free. Louisiana District 01 is my home and I love the people in it no matter how misguided they are.
Sincerely, a proud American,
Gilda Reed
Amen sister, Amen.
May 4th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I’m not sure that I follow Avman’s logic - Cazayoux won so I’d better get out my McCain signs.
In fairness to the Republicans, they ran the worst possible candidate they could have picked in Woody ‘put down the plastic fetus’ Jenkins.
One can only hope that the Dems will not pee in their own punch in the fall and lose the seat they fought for.
May 4th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
The biggest concern is that the Republicans will bring out a rising star to run against Cazayoux in the fall. Somebody like Jim Field, son of Jimmy Field, the PS Commissioner, comes to mind. Don’t know if he’s interested, but his name has been mentioned. Squeaky clean, with no political history that I’m aware of.
The Dem’s had better mind their p’s and q’s. Cazayoux will not have enough time to make a name for himself between now and the fall election.
District 6 is dominated by Republican stalwarts, and the fact that Jenkins couldn’t win should tell him he needs to stick with selling Amway.