My biggest nightmare. Yet another republican takes a Secretary of State position....without even a whimper from the National Dems it seems.
I think it goes without saying how imperative it is to NOT have R's controlling the SOS office. Can anybody say Harris, Blackwell...heck, how about Rice (even though that is not the same thing)?
Heading into Nov. 7th, there was by a total miracle, a runoff for Secretary of State between an R and a D. Sept. 30th we had elections in Louisiana - there were two R's leading the race for SOS and one random Dem. As a side note, in the same election ONLY R's were running for Insurance Commissioner.
Today, the run-off Dem candidate, forfeited the race citing low voter turnout and lack of funds to mount an effective GOTV effort. So the R's win without even trying.
We have a lot on our minds in Louisiana than races, and the R's and the insurance industry counted on that.
The insurance companies who have wasted ample time to totally screw us up one side and down the other also found time to funnel cash to the R candidates for Insurance Commissioner. We didn't even bother to add a Dem to the ballot. But that is another story for another day.
Until today, my silver lining in local election was that I could vote for a D for SOS. Because the congressional race is a joke.
Bill Jefferson is trying to hold his seat. whatever. The other leading Dem candidates - Troy Carter and Karen Carter (no relation) would basically be putting the same type of machine under new management. I could tell corruption stories about Troy Carter for days. Karen Carter has the same recycled faces in her corner, PLUS the shyster GOPers who worked against Landrieu in the mayor's race. The Gopers ditched the only R (Joe Lavigne) because he ran anti-Bush radio ads. They were incensed and threw their support to Karen Carter.
A fourth viable dem candidate, Derrick Shepherd, supported the closet R during the mayoral race.
So we aren't exactly brimming with choices here.
Pre-Katrina, it was impossible to win the state without offsetting the vaunted New ORleans Dem vote somehow. I can't tell you how it sucks to be wiped out from over 400,000 rock solid dem stronghold to 100,000 mostly republican.
I'll be honest, I didn't care to dig deep into state senator Francis Heitmeier (former Dem candidate for SOS). He's a conservative Dem, who did lots of favors for republican Gov Mike Foster. Not exactly my dream candidate - but you can't have it all. At least he wasn't an R and that's all I cared about.
But now, we loose for not even trying. It's very demoralizing on top of everything else you have to deal with - rebuilding your home, rebuilding your livelihood, on top of all the other regular everyday BS that keeps you busy. I'm an uber joiner, you don't have to ask me twice to volunteer or help. But it sucks feeling like you're blowing in the wind.
The New Orleans area Dem Meetup and DFA Meetup coordinator stepped down a few months ago without anybody else ready to jump in. We can't field a candidate for Insurance Commissioner and we can't properly support a candidate for Secretary of State.
....this sucks.