Jindal on Cruise Control as Saturday Election Approaches
When the election results are released Saturday night in the Louisiana's gubernatorial race, the question won't be whether Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal won reelection, but by how wide a margin.
Jindal needs more than 50 percent of the votes cast in this weekend's primary election to win the race outright. The fact that Louisiana Democrats failed to recruit a serious candidate means that an outright win for Jindal is a virtual lock.
Schoolteacher Tara Hollis is considered the strongest of Jindal's nine opponents. Hollis pitches herself as a conservative Democrat who voted for Jindal in 2007, but grew disenchanted with the governor over education cuts. She raised a minimal amount of money and has little chance of winning enough votes to force a runoff.
The inability of state Democrats to field a more credible opponent is part of a larger trend of struggling Democratic fortunes across the South. Term-limited state Sen. Rob Marionneaux considered challenging Jindal, but ultimately decided he wouldn't have the resources to compete.
Jindal posted massive fundraising numbers throughout the race, scaring any potentially formidable challengers from jumping in. Earlier this month, he reported still having more than $6 million in the bank. His fundraising prowess, combined with a series of first term policy victories and the overall decline of the state Democratic Party, made a second term a foregone conclusion.
Polls close at 9 p.m. ET. Stay tuned to Hotline On Call for results.
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