Louisiana Governor 50 Points Down in New Orleans

The State of Louisiana - 1100 miles outside the Beltway

The Washington Times reports:

Republican Rep. Bobby Jindal [Monday] declared his candidacy for the Louisiana governorship but vowed to delay campaigning until after the April conclusion of the state's legislative session to avoid politicizing Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.

...

A poll by the Southern Media and Opinion Research shows Mrs. Blanco's support among voters is 35 percent, compared with 59 percent for Mr. Jindal. Mrs. Blanco defeated Mr. Jindal by four percentage points in 2003.

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Mr. Jindal, the first to announce a candidacy to challenge Mrs. Blanco, emphasized his interest in contracting the race's length -- a move that runs counter to electoral trends.

"It is my belief that campaigns are too long as they are, and that people grow weary of the barrage of charges and countercharges," Mr. Jindal said. "I want to avoid D.C.-style politics with mudslinging and instead focus on solving the problems that our state faces."

The poll... shows that Mr. Jindal... received overwhelming support in New Orleans -- 72 percent -- while Mrs. Blanco pulled 22 percent support.

Mrs. Blanco's low numbers are attributed to her responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Mrs. Blanco initially rejected President Bush's offer to deploy federal troops, after waiting 24 hours to make a decision. Days later, Mrs. Blanco was wired for a television interview and whispered to her press secretary that she wished she had requested troops earlier.

This serves as yet another reminder that New Orleans was doomed by geography and state & local officials, not a President a thousand miles away.

Subsequently, Blanco made news for whining about not being mentioned in the State of the Union Address:

Gov. Kathleen Blanco angrily criticized President Bush on Wednesday for not mentioning 2005's destructive hurricanes in his State of the Union speech, and said Louisiana is being shortchanged in federal recovery funding for political reasons.

"I guess the pains of the hurricane are yesterday's news in Washington," Blanco said.

No, yesterday's news was yesterday. Hurricane Katrina is yesteryear's news.

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