Kathleen Blanco on Principles & Values

Democratic LA Governor

2003 TV ad: "Wake up, Louisiana!" beat Jindal 52-48

When the dust cleared on primary night in 2003, I had come in first with 33% of the vote, a full 15% ahead of Blanco. It's hard to pinpoint the reason for my victory. I think it was a combination of hard work, discipline, people power, and the power of ideas.

Still, the election wasn't over. [We faced] a runoff with the perfectly positioned Kathleen Blanco--she didn't have a controversial record to defend, she seemed non-threatening, and she could attract bipartisan support as a Democrat campaigning as a cultural conservative. She was widely known and I was not. At the very end of the campaign, Blanco went on the attack, running a TV ad that featured a voice shouting, "Wake up, Louisiana!" Displaying an unflattering picture of me, the ad warned that people were in danger of electing some guy no one really knew. The ad played to Blanco's strengths as a safe, status quoi candidate, which was a good place to be at the time, pre-Katrina. In the end she beat us, 52 to 48 percent.

Source: Leadership and Crisis, by Bobby Jindal, p. 90-91 , Nov 15, 2010

Click here for definitions & background information on Principles & Values. Click here for a summary of all issue stances of Kathleen Blanco. Click here for a profile of Kathleen Blanco. Click here for VoteMatch responses by Kathleen Blanco. Agree? Disagree? Voice your opinions on Principles & Values in The Forum. Click here for issue positions of other LA politicians.
*Other governors on Principles & Values:*		*Kathleen Blanco on other issues:*
*LA Gubernatorial:* Bobby Jindal *LA Senatorial:* David Vitter Mary Landrieu *Newly seated 2010:* NJ Chris Christie VA Bob McDonnell *Term-limited as of Jan. 2011:* AL Bob Riley CA Arnold Schwarzenegger GA Sonny Perdue HI Linda Lingle ME John Baldacci MI Jennifer Granholm NM Bill Richardson OK Brad Henry OR Ted Kulongoski PA Ed Rendell RI Donald Carcieri SC Mark Sanford SD Mike Rounds TN Phil Bredesen WY Dave Freudenthal	*Newly Elected Nov. 2010:* AL: Robert Bentley (R) CA: Jerry Brown (D) CO: John Hickenlooper (D) CT: Dan Malloy (D) FL: Rick Scott (R) GA: Nathan Deal (R) HI: Neil Abercrombie (D) IA: Terry Branstad (R) KS: Sam Brownback (R) ME: Paul LePage (R) MI: Rick Snyder (R) MN: Mark Dayton (D) ND: Jack Dalrymple (R) NM: Susana Martinez (R) NV: Brian Sandoval (R) NY: Andrew Cuomo (D) OH: John Kasich (R) OK: Mary Fallin (R) PA: Tom Corbett (R) RI: Lincoln Chafee (I) SC: Nikki Haley (R) SD: Dennis Daugaard (R) TN: Bill Haslam (R) VT: Peter Shumlin (D) WI: Scott Walker (R) WY: Matt Mead (R)	Abortion Budget/Economy Civil Rights Corporations Crime Drugs Education Energy/Oil Environment Families/Children Foreign Policy Free Trade Govt. Reform Gun Control Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Infrastructure/Technology Jobs Principles/Values Social Security Tax Reform War/Iraq/Mideast Welfare/Poverty [Title9]

Page last updated: Nov 23, 2011