THE QUAKE MOVES SOUTH:

Jindal's Campaign Exploits the Democrats' Coming Day of Reckoning (Prof. Jeff Sadow, October 27, 2003, PoliticsLA.com)

Are Louisiana's political tectonic plates shifting? Or is there more than meets the eye here with Bobby Jindal's steadily-increasing support among blacks.

The answers are yes, and yes. The New Orleans black political group BOLD sent a shot heard around the state last week by its gubernatorial endorsement of Bobby Jindal over Kathleen Blanco, in a vote described by its president as not close. (Which caused some consternation for one of its top officers, state Rep. Karen Carter, also a state Democrat official.)

Had this occurred in isolation, perhaps Democrats and black elected officials could have written it off as a fluke, maybe an idiosyncratic incident over a group's perceived slight at the hands of the Blanco campaign. After all, a couple of other alphabet-soup groups have been with Blanco from the start, and others probably will follow.

But then the Baton Rouge-based CLOUT announced its backing of Jindal, followed by the endorsement of veteran Shreveport activist and former state Rep. C.O. Simpkins. Others may well follow here. The news is not that Jindal is going to pick up lots of endorsements from black political leaders (except those elected, who are all Democrats) and groups, but that he'll pick up more than a trivial number.

On the day the GOP starts consistently drawing just 20% of black votes, the Democratic Party, as currently constructed, ceases to be a serious opposition party.

MORE:
-Barbour hoping to attract record black vote (Julie Goodman, 11/01/03, The Clarion Ledger)

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 2, 2003 5:36 AM