Louisiana Governor election gameday thread (Edwards wins) (1 Viewer)

[st dude]

The race for Louisiana Governor between democrat John Bel Edwards and republican Eddie Rispone, which is drawing national attention and a ton of outside money, gets decided tomorrow.

Rispone has smartly hitched his wagon to Donald Trump, hoping to make the race a referendum on Trump in a very red state, evidently not wanting to have the race focus on a comparison of qualifications. His commercials focus on painting Edwards as a liberal. Only in Louisiana can a pro life, pro second amendment former green beret like Edwards be called a liberal.

Edwards is a good guy, I hope he wins. I sat with him for a few innings at the LSU Army baseball game. He was wearing Army gear, I didn’t know he played baseball for Army at West Point. He did have on purple socks as a nod to LSU.

It will be an interesting race. Millions of dollars from outside the state have poured in. Trump has been in the state at least twice , stumping for Rispone. Taking a page from Trump attacking McCain, Rispone has even attacked Edward’s military service. Did Rispone have bone spurs too?

Most are predicting a close race. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I see Edwards winning with about 52% of the vote. The returns should start coming in around the time the LSU game ends.

 

[superchuck500]

Just found this interesting

Shows it’s not generic. The candidates, their records, their communications do matter. I read that somewhere around 140K Republicans voted for Edwards.

I know a couple.

 

[st dude]

Just found this interesting

Edwards is a very strong candidate. He has been in the legislature for a while and has a lot of friends on both sides of the aisle. He is hardly a typical democrat, very pro life and pro 2nd amendment.

My partner is very involved in politics and got on the Edwards train last election. I remember arguing to him it was impossible for a democrat to get elected, I really knew little about Edwards at the time. I was impressed when I met him and thought he was that rare democrat who had a chance, but I still didn’t think he could win.

Had the race focused on how things turned around for the state during his term, he should have won by a landslide. We have had a run of bad governors. Edwards has done well. I don’t think people realize how bad Rispone would have been. Maybe worse than Jindal. I am so relieved Edwards won.

 

[lurk]

A big congratulations to Louisiana for making the smart decision tonight. Here's to four more productive years.

 

[reubenray]

I don't live in Louisiana right now, but maybe again some day. Hopefully Edwards is the right choice. I have friends that only vote whomever the party has running. I am an independent, so all I want is the best man for the job to win. I cannot get straight answers from my friends that still live in Louisiana because they are party people. Some of them are Democrats and some Republicans.

 

[MT15]

It’s encouraging to see that there are at least a significant number of republican leaning voters who will vote for the man instead of the party. And that the more progressive democratic leaning voters were able to get over Edwards‘ stances they may not agree with in order to ensure the best person for the job won.

 

[crosswatt]

Because it just makes too much sense. The electoral college was formed in part because vote counts were being carried across the country on friggin horseback. We don't have issues like that anymore.

Well also because the "educated" felt that the "uneducated" could be duped into voting for the familiarity of a monarchist who would overturn the entire American Experiment before it even had a chance to play out.

As a procedural point, I've got to give credit to those who figured out how to properly utilize the electoral college to repeatedly keep the popular vote at arm's length to seat less popular candidates.

Interestingly enough, the very first time it happened with John Quincy Adams, the fallout created the Democratic party. Also interesting to note, since that initial occurrence, it has always been the Republican candidate who lost the popular election but won the presidency because of the Electoral College.

 

[st dude]

Edwards won by 40,000 votes, which is still relatively close.

In Orleans parish he beat Rispone by a stunning 114000 to 13000 margin, 90%. Wow. I wonder if that’s what they expected.

I just went back and looked. Edwards beat Vitter 82000 to 12000 four years ago, about 87%. So while I am sure Edwards was expecting to win Orleans handily, he has to be ecstatic he picked up another 30000 votes this year.

Thanks Trump. No doubt your stumping for Risoone helped energize Edwards voters to turn out. Lol.

 

[st dude]