Louisiana 2015

Hope springs eternal for the Democrats . . . and in a state where you wouldn't expect any hope.

This is John Bel Edwards, who, on Saturday, November 21, 2015, was elected the fifty-sixth governor of Louisiana in a runoff that placed him against Republican David Vitter, the state's supposedly senior U.S. Senator.  Edwards promised an administration that would answer more to the people than to corporate interests, a point made obvious by his support from teachers' unions and labor groups, and the people responded.  He supposedly won in an upset, although polling in the days prior to this past Saturday's runoff showed Edwards firmly in the lead.

Edwards has already promised to enact Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act by executive order when he takes office in January.  This is big deal in light of Kentucky's Republican governor-elect, Matt Bevin, promising to tear out his state's health exchange by the roots.  Italicized takeaways aside, though, the Republican flip in Kentucky and the GOP hold in Mississippi mean a net gain of zero governorships for the Democrats, and the party - still decimated on the state and local level as well as at the federal level - is one major presidential defeat away from a Whig-Out.  But this is still good news for a party that hasn't seen much of that in the past seven years. Also, Edwards will be the only Democratic governor of a state south of the 36' 30" line.  

As for Vitter, well, the scumbag senator known for keeping prostitutes on speed-dial tried to convince voters he'd gotten beyond that and was a changed man.  But Vitter - who survived a contentious fight within the Louisiana GOP just to get on the gubernatorial runoff ballot - saw his level of support fall as more Louisianans turned against him; his roguishness finally became too much in a state known for its rogues.  Vitter made Democrats nationwide all the more happy as he announced that he would not seek re-election to the Senate in 2016.  This all comes on the heels of Bobby Jindal, the state's lame-brained lame-duck governor, ending his presidential candidacy.      

Take me to the Mardi Gras! :-D