[StBernard] Blanco decision a relief

[Westley Annis]

>From what I've read in a few articles, it seems as though Northern Louisiana

will be a possible king-maker in this race.  Last time, they weren't fond of
Bobby for some varying reasons (i.e. Indian ancestry).  Hopefully they'll be
able to get over it this time.  Also, it will be fun to watch Acadiana if
Breaux is in the race.

JLY
 

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	Blanco decision a relief
	
	Levee failures and the Road Home program ended any chance for Gov.
Blanco to
	be re-elected. Her recent decision to bow out of the race allows
Republicans
	to focus their firepower on former Sen. John Breaux. 
	By John Maginnis , Columnist
	
	When Gov. Kathleen Blanco said last week she was "planning" to run
for
	governor, hardly anyone believed it anymore. The state Republican
Party had
	already moved on to attacking former Sen. John Breaux, who is
neither a
	candidate nor a registered voter here, in hopes he stays that way.
With
	Congressman Bobby Jindal putting off campaigning so as not to blow
his huge
	lead in the polls, the only two candidates actively running, state
Sen.
	Walter Boasso, R-Chalmette, and Public Service Commissioner Foster
Campbell,
	D-Elm Grove, generated scant interest from the body politic, whose
attention
	seemed fixed on when the big shoe would drop.
	It came down not as a surprise but rapidly nonetheless, from first
leak to
	televised announcement in a matter of hours, appropriately, on the
last day
	of winter. The first reaction of many both in and out of politics
was
	relief, for her and for us, not to have to go through an election
that is
	consumed by the worst of our past.
	
	With a good economy, her own hard work and a scandal-free
administration,
	Blanco was uneventfully but deliberately on her way to re-election
when she
	was undone by two man-made disasters: the levee failures and her own
Road
	Home program (the latter was supposed to resurrect her fortunes but
finished
	them off instead). The only purely natural disaster she faced,
Hurricane
	Rita, she handled pretty well. 
	
	In looking ahead to the campaign that was not to be, she said she
had a
	story to tell and looked forward to telling it. The people didn't.
They had
	seen the same story, with images so vivid that she was not going to
supplant
	them with 30-second commercials.
	
	There will be time for a full assessment of her one term, which
still has
	critical days ahead. But the state has a new governor to elect
first, as it
	waits for the next shoe to drop.
	
	For a statewide election campaign to be on hold until John Breaux
decides if
	he wants to enter it has become a regular occurrence, almost a
ritual. The
	last races for governor and U.S. senator did not start until he
passed on
	them. This time, according to those he spoke with, he was only
waiting for
	Blanco to get out the way.
	
	Republicans, disappointed to not have Blanco to kick around a while
longer,
	have been trying to give Breaux second and third thoughts about
making the
	plunge. The state party's recent commercials pretty much call the
Democrats'
	native son a political illegal alien and plundering carpetbagger,
who
	deserted his state for a big-money lobbying gig and
multimillion-dollar
	Maryland mansion.
	
	Also, a so-called confidential memo being widely circulated matches
up
	legislation filed by the former senator with the benefiting
businesses who
	hired his son, John Jr., as a lobbyist. The not-so-confidential
message to
	Breaux is: if you run, we're coming after you, your family, your
house and
	your dog. It's all fair game, and unfair, too.
	
	If he runs, he will have to address the citizenship issue squarely,
starting
	by re-registering to vote in Louisiana. The lack of a clear
definition of
	"citizen," which the constitution requires a gubernatorial candidate
to be
	for the five preceding years, as well as state courts' liberal
	interpretation of candidate qualifications, favor him legally.
	
	Politically is another matter. He will be hammered on that issue and
a
	closet full of opposition research on his 40 years of public
service,
	starting with his first boss, Edwin Edwards. Having not faced the
voters in
	almost a decade, the first polls are bound to show him trailing
Jindal
	badly.
	
	But issues that seem so big initially have a way of working
themselves out
	over the course of a long campaign and not being decisive in the
end. If a
	governor's race between Breaux and Jindal is meant to be, it will be
the
	watershed election of our times, and will go down to the wire in
October,
	regardless of what crops up in the first weeks of spring.