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Tim Siggia's Election Forecast: 2003 - Part 3
By Tim Siggia
May 10, 2003
Now, at last, as promised: Louisiana.
With incumbent Republican governor Mike Foster being term-limited, the governor's race is pretty much up for grabs, with no clear front-runner having emerged in either party. For the Democrats, lieutenant governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, state attorney general Richard Ieyoub, and state treasurer John Kennedy seem to be the strongest candidates at this time, with New Orleans mayor Marc Morial and U.S. Congressman William Jefferson also running. For the Republicans, age seems to be a factor in both directions with former governor David Treen, age 75, and Bobby Jindal, age 28, both in the running. Treen was governor from 1979 to 1983. State senate president John Hainkel also seeks the gubernatorial nomination.
In the lieutenant governor's race, Stephen Rue, age 42, a lawyer who is white and single, and Kirt Bennett, age 35, a private school director who is black and Hispanic, have announced their candidacy for the Republican nomination. For the Democrats, former lieutenant governor Melinda Schwegmann is seeking a return to office, but faces a formidable challenge from politically-connected Mitch Landrieu, brother of Sen. Mary Landrieu. Look for Bennett to figure prominently, especially if he can garner support from blacks and Hispanics.
In the race for secretary of state, incumbent Republican Fox McKeithen may run for re-election, but McKeithen is also in the running for governor at this time. Democrats Bob Odom and Robert Wooley, commissioner of agriculture & forestry and acting insurance commissioner, respectively, are both running for those offices.
Well, that's it for the state office races in this off-year. Here in Connecticut the story will be municipal elections, and here, as always, don't look for any surprises. In my own hometown of East Hartford, no Republican candidate has as yet stepped forward to challenge Democrat Mayor-For-Life Tim Larson, brother of Congressman John. Susan Kniep, who served three terms from 1986-91, was the last Republican mayor in what otherwise has historically been a one-party town, and she was defeated by Larson in her 2001 comeback bid. The bigger cities of Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford remain so strongly Democratic that general elections in these cities serve mostly as anticlimax to the Democratic primaries. And in Waterbury, still reeling from the scandals of Giordano and Santopietro, anything can happen. If there are any surprises at all this year, they will probably happen in the Brass City.
In the meantime, the periodic pronouncements from Siggia's Soapbox will continue.
Continue to part 1
Continue to part 2
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