The Lousiana Democratic Party

[jiacinto]

Why have they been able to survive in the deep South while other state Democratic Parties have fallen behind?

They could be an interesting case study. What is it that they do that their other Southern brethren aren't doing? What makes them electable compared to those in other states?

[Bombtrack]

1. the right candidates

Breaux and Landrieu are proof positive to all the "centrist democrats are useless" types are not thinking clearly. If they came across like Pat Leahy and Barbara Boxer, they wouldn't have been elected or reelected to the senate.

And good smart leadership in the LA dem party probably have something to do with it as well. No one thought Jindal could be beaten(including me) and he was. Those people need to be promoted who were running those campaigns.

[jiacinto]

2. Ok

Interesting. This is an important dialouge.

I mean, they must be doing something right.

[RushIsRot]

3. They are Democrats in name only. DINOs

In reality, they are corporate whores. Since a great number of the Louisiana electorate is made up of disinterested sheeple, these two will continue to be relected, but they do not have Democratic principles as their prime objective.

[frustrated_lefty]

4. I'm trying to find a polite way to say

screw off. The "disinterested" people you cast aside include my grandmother, my wife, my kids, and myself.

Yes, we do actually have democratic objectives and I say to you it is incredibly frustrating to be fighting in the South and have your own party spout stupid shit like this.

My grandparents always thought "people should be treated like people." They were in favor of democratic principles, and the people of Louisiana deserve a goddam nod for standing up and being counted.

[Bombtrack]

6. Breaux has a 46 and Landriu has a 17 from the American conservative union

in comparison, by far the liberal republican in the senate, Lincoln Chafee has a 47.

[Chomskyite]

8. You might want to check their voting records

. . . before you talk out your ass.

[Cheswick2.0]

10. If we only allowed people in the party who are as liberal as me

we would have about 5 percent of the electorate and we could call ourselves the Green party. Yeah, that'd work.

I am no fan of Breaux, however the people of La have a right to elect whatever democrat makes them comfortable and that person is still closer to me than the most liberal republican. To top it off they add to the numbers needed to get control of congress back.

[jiacinto]

20. Insulting people is wrong

this post should be removed.

[jiacinto]

21. Insulting people is wrong

this post should be removed.

[carpetbagger]

5. Demographic differences.

Race is similar to other states (2:1 white:black). But beyond that, Louisiana has a large number of Catholic voters. Despite all its recent troubles and its dominance by reactionaries, the Catholic Church still correctly identifies caring for the poor and working for peace as Christian values, unlike southern Protestant churches. Cajun culture is also a bit less closely connected with southern conservative themes. La. is a bit more urban than at least some other states, and the state's strong machine and political tradition has made it somewhat less quick to switch parties.

That's enough to keep it close. Beyond that, the democrats have played smart, going with centrists (Breaux), "name brands" (children of Moon Landrieu), and other homegrown types (Blanco). That has made it easier for voters to identify democrats as people like them. Put some sugar on top (literally) by invoking Bush administration policies which undermine Louisiana's sugar industry, driving a wedge between the GOP outsiders and the "good ol boys and girls", and there you have the formula for narrow victories.

The right candidate will take Louisiana in 2004, but it won't be easy. Then again, it wasn't for Blanco or Landrieu either.

[Noordam]

14. LOL you forgot the Dems got lucky and had more dead people

voting than the Repugs... This is Louisana...... Where ppl really believe that the Governor got luck at cards in Nev and made something like $250,000 one night on blackjack and oh by the way his hand pick committee pick the same casino operator to run New Orleans riverboat casino........

[jiacinto]

22. Ok

Thanks.

[Dob Bole]

7. Populism...

while other state Democratic parties have begun to focus on TV commercials, etc., the Louisiana party gets the vote out. They also have elections on Saturday, so most working class people can make it.

It's really the only Southern state with the old party structure to remain intact. Many have survived, but not by keeping the New Deal coalition like Louisiana has. Georgia, for example, has stayed Democratic because it is more urban than other Southern States (factoid: there are more people in Atlanta than in Alabama.)

[lastliberalintexas]

17. You got it

Combine the LA Dem party's great get out the vote campaigns with the facts that LA is not a fundy repub state but is majority Catholic, has a very high minority population, and good candidates for the area, and you have a winning combination. But the most important thing the LA party does is get voters to the polls!

[Chomskyite]

9. All I know is I wouldn't want to run against the batch of Dems here

People like Breaux, Landrieu, Kathleen Blanco, Chris John and Bill Jefferson have run some very good tactical campaigns. They go on the attack in the RIGHT way, on issues that really hit where we live and not on personal malarky like the Republicans always seem to do.

Blanco, for one, just destroyed Jindal. She peeled off several northern parishes and suburban parishes that I NEVER thought a Democrat could win here. I think it was a combination of her performance in the last debate (where she reluctantly spoke about the loss of her son and in so doing dramatically contrasted her humanity with Jindal's robotism) and her ceaselessly going after Jindal's destruction of our health care system when he was in charge of it. He never had an answer for it. There WAS no answer for it.

[markus]

11. The race thing

An interesting thing about southern Louisiana. There was a map published in the Harper's Index a number of years ago, a cluster graph of dots showing reported lunchings 18something to 1950.

You could identify every major population center in the south, except those of South Louisiana. This is not to say there weren't lynchings, but you could not clearly identify New Orleans or Lafayette on that map by the cluster of dots.

Acadians have never been as rabidly racist as much of the rest of the south, because they themselves were a persecuted minority. When my father's family moved up to N'wawlins form Thibodeaux in the early 30s, French was my father's first language.

He quickly forgot what he knew when he learned that the nuns would beat him in the classroom if he spoke French, and the children would beat him on the playground. Speaking French marked you as an ignorant swamp dwelling Coon Ass.

I think, at least in part because of that history, that the race card has never worked as well in South Louisiana. That gives Dems a shot at the black vote, plus the Acadian vote, plus whatever else is left to pick up (mostly union votes; yes we have unions. That Chevy Blazer you're driving may have been built in Shreveport by UAW workers, unless that plants closed and I haven't heard).

The other reasons stated above also help to explain how Democrats get elected in Louisiana.

Blanca was a relief, because it looked like Louisiana was going the way of my current state of residence North Dakota: moderate Dems to federal office, GOP for the state races and President.

I wonder how Dean would do there. If think if you walked the halls of a High School in Jeffereson Parish (County) just outside N'wawlins, and asked a lot of kids who Huey Long was, they'd say he was the guy who built the bridge. But there is still a legacy of a Charity Hospital system, and other vestigases, that a clever person could use to invoke the populist tradition of the past and call for a return to it in the future.

But that goes right back to my long-standing premise: the way to win the South is through unvarnished Class Warefare, aka economic populism.

[lastliberalintexas]

18. Modern Cajuns are basically "mixed breeds" too

Cajuns have so many different cultures and races flowing through their blood that it is harder (tho not impossible) for them to be the ardent racists of the Klan variety. Modern Cajuns aren't just French- they are French, African, various Carribean races/cultures, Spanish, German, etc. Creole, if you will. An amazing culture, really- the people and the food are some of the best in the world.

[Q]

12. Do Democrats Need the South?

Do Democrats Need the South?
A new conventional wisdom among pundits is that the Democrats drove away the South's political allegiance because the Democrats supposedly don't care about religion and other strong Southern concerns. But this spin has turned history on its head, editing out how Republicans pandered to some of the South's worst attitudes toward blacks and gays. December 1, 2003 - http://www.consortiumnews.com/

[MoonRiver]

13. Their candidates tend to be pro-life, but not extreme in that direction.

That's my take.

On edit:

Just for the record, I'm very pro-choice! But I think LA being predominantly Catholic votes pro-life, even among Dems. So people who like the economic positions and general social stands of the Democratic Party, with the exception of abortion, can easily go for Dems there. I certainly don't endorse the Dem Party, even within the rest of the South moving in that direction however. We have to hold the line on such important issues.

[Jacobin]

15. North Louisiana is like Alabama. South Louisiana is unique

French influence is very very strong in southern part of the state. New Orleans ain't exactly Tuscaloosa, if you know what I mean. Tolerance is a valued commodity, laissez les bons temp roulez, doncha know. Huey Long was King here not that long ago.

There are two states in the skin of one. Fortunately, there are many more voters and people in south Louisiana, than North Louisiana.

[kentuck]

16. Repubs have never won a Senate seat in Louisiana....

Never.

[ACK]

19. The same reason that Warner won in VA

You stay conservative enough on just a few issues to prevent getting blackballed as a librhul.

You aim your messages and ads to the populace you are trying to appeal to.

You craft your message in populist but slightly progressive terms.

You refuse to back down and apologize and buy into the Repuke campaigns to smear and defame you.

[WhosNext]

23. Because of New Orleans