A whiz-kid Republican whose parents emigrated from India is the unlikely front-runner for governor in Saturday's open primary in this state where a majority of white men voted for extremist David Duke just over a decade ago. Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, 32, will face a host of veteran Democrats. If, as expected, no one gets more than 50 percent, the top vote-getters will meet in a Nov. 15 runoff. Judging by the polls, one of them will be Jindal, who has confounded political prognosticators in Louisiana, a state that has not put a non-white in statewide office since Reconstruction. Jindal has gotten as much as 27 percent support in the polls.
| God, I love this country... |
Jindal, a Rhodes Scholar and former assistant secretary in President Bush's Health and Human Services Department, has changed the political calculus in Louisiana by making a strong appeal to the right, with radio ads extolling the Ten Commandments and deriding liberals and gun control. The ads also make frequent mention of the Roman Catholic convert's faith.
| He wasn't a Muslim, so nobody had to kill him when he converted... |
In addition, Jindal is the protege of Louisiana's most prominent Republican, popular Gov. Mike Foster, who has served two terms and cannot run again. Jindal's position on the perennial concern of Louisiana voters, jobs, does not differ greatly from that of three of the four Democrats battling him. Louisiana did not participate in the 1990s boom and has lost out to Southern neighbors in recruiting industry.
| I wonder what the reason for that could possibly be? |
Jindal, along with state Attorney General Richard Ieyoub, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Randy Ewing, a former state Senate president, all promise to make Louisiana more friendly to business by repealing corporate taxes.
| Y'think that coulda had something to do with it? |
The odd man out is former Rep. Claude "Buddy" Leach, whose Huey Long-style populist campaign has been based on promises to tax big oil companies and raise the minimum wage.
Good idea. That way more oil companies will want to open more facilities in Louisianna so they can give you money. Works every time. Oh, and raise that minimum wage, too. That way, marginal businesses won't be able to make their payrolls and they'll either have to lay off people or go out of business entirely. But you won't have to worry, because you'll have all that additional money you're gouging out of the oil companies so you can pay them welfare. Won't you?
Where do they get these people? |
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