Other Columns by Mike Bayham
Mike Bayham Bio

Printer-Friendly Version

Battling For The Bayous: Louisiana's Runoffs
By Mike Bayham
December 2, 2004

Courtesy of Louisiana's unique "open" election system, condescendingly dubbed the "Cajun primary" by critical outlanders, the eyes of political junkies across the nation will be on south Louisiana this week. And no, it has nothing to do with David Duke, a convicted ex-governor, or, regrettably, the imminent termination of Saints coach Jim Haslett.

The national GOP has the opportunity to add a little gravy on top of their Congressional net pickups in the 2004 elections while the Democrats are hoping to stop the bleeding in two unsettled races along the Louisiana coastline.

In the predominantly rural Third District, the Republicans are looking to hold on to a seat they've held since longtime Congressman Billy Tauzin, Jr. lost the scales from his eyes in the aftermath of Newt's triumphant seizure of the legislative branch. On the western side of the state is the relatively more urban Seventh District, an area that has never elected a Republican US Representative.

Things look grim for the Democrats as President Bush carried every parish in the 7th and most of the parishes in the 3rd, winning many of them by nearly a 2 to 1 margin. Also with the congressional races being the only items on the ballot in south Louisiana, the Democrats could suffer an "oil shortage" for their expensive GOTV machine while Republicans, whose supporters are considered chronic voters, typically thrive in low turnout elections.

Judging by recent polls and the current political situations of the respective districts, the Democrats' best chance of winning a spot is in the current Republican seat as intraparty feuding has seriously wounded the Democratic aspirant in the traditionally "blue" district.

Republican Dr. Charles Boustany had a wide lead over the two Democratic candidates, who spent their energy fighting each other for the coveted second spot in the primary. State Senator Donald Cravins, who is black, missed making the runoff by a hair to his legislative colleague Willie Landry Mount.

While losing a close election often does not bring out the best side of a politician, Cravins was irate that a "Unity" ballot, partially paid for by the state Democratic Party, was sent out to black voters with the image of Dr. Martin Luther King on the flyer, though the ballot contained only Mount's name.

Cravins is right to experience a degree of indignation over the piece since it implied that Mount was the "official" choice of the state's black political leadership and to a lesser degree conceded that Cravins could not possibly win a runoff, a ploy that got Mary Landrieu in trouble with Cleo Fields in the 1995 gubernatorial race.

Mount has not helped her cause by attacking Boustany, a baptized Catholic who converted to Episcopalian, as basically having "abandoned his faith for convenience", with the unstated reason being that his wife was a member of that church. The desperate message is clear as Mount is engaging in such skullduggery to remind the mostly Catholic district that Boustany is not "one of them", a shameless bigoted tactic no Republican would dare employ though it has been used by Democrats elsewhere.

The Third District involves a similar "spoiler" dynamic, though in this instance it is against the GOP. The divided Democratic field benefited former State Representative Charlie Melancon, who had a distinct financial advantage over his fellow Ds. Things were far tenser on the Republican end, where the scion of the retiring congressman was locked in a bitter battle with State Senator Craig Romero.

Like Cravins, Romero was also angered by a particular piece of campaign literature, but this one accused him of sowing the seeds for a new Sodom and Gomorrah through a selective interpretation of his legislative record. Needless to say, the New Iberia senator, who missed the runoff by an agonizingly close margin, does not have a Tauzin sign on his lawn.

Melancon has relentless shelled Tauzin over his age (30), having washed out of the Coast Guard, his employment as a lobbyist- perhaps the worst job for a candidate to hold next to used car dealer, and several accusations of unscrupulous activity while at LSU supplied to the Melancon campaign by a quisling Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity brother. Had only little Billy followed his father and joined TKE...

Tauzin, who is not wanting for campaign money, has returned fire in kind and aired footage of he and President Bush meeting in the Oval Office and walking through the White House rose garden. Both Tauzin and Boustany will benefit from a visit to south Louisiana by Vice-President Dick Cheney only three days before the election.

Though the Republicans appear to be leading in both districts, a Boustany win seems the most certain of the two. Having once been in the younger Tauzin's shoes as a 26 year old candidate for the parish council, the age factor looms larger than most people realize and could be the main culprit in a Melancon upset, though the Democrat is hampered by the challenge of mobilizing the black vote in a sparsely populated district.

Also to be determined is whether President Bush's 2004 coat tails stretch to St. Mary Parish or will they be hemmed in at Cut Off (a small town in Lafourche Parish)?

Billy's fate to a large degree lies in the hands of Craig Romero's supporters in the western part of the district who must choose between party loyalty or avenging their fallen favorite. If they decide to go with the latter option or simply stay home, then the 2004 runoff in the Third District could resemble the 2002 runoff in the Fifth District, a strong Republican district that produced a Democratic congressman.

-------------

Mike Bayham is author of Right From The Bayou: The Opinions of a Conservative Cajun, which is available at iUniverse.com.

--------------------

Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.