Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Nov 13: No matter how pickup-driving conservative southern white men vote in Louisiana's race for governor between Indian American Bobby Jindal and Kathleen Blanco on Saturday, the result will make history. In a state that has never had a woman governor and has not put a non-white in the office since the reconstruction period following the us civil war, the contest is between a Cajun woman and the son of Indian immigrants.
The Republican candidate is Jindal, a 32-year-old former Rhodes scholar who was an assistant health secretary under President George W Bush. The Democrat is Lt. Gov. Blanco, a 60-year-old veteran of Louisiana politics who has served in state government for two decades.
Although polls show the race is tight, Jindal has managed to garner support from an odd combination of voters: Catholics in southern Louisiana's Cajun country, conservative Protestants in the northern part of the state, urban blacks in New Orleans and suburbanites in baton rouge.
Some rural white voters have been swayed by Jindal's religious fervor. Jindal, a Roman Catholic convert, has also rallied conservatives with hard-edged radio ads deriding liberals and pushing guns and the ten commandments.
Bureau Report