Louisiana state representative from Amite, John Bel Edwards became governor elect Saturday night with a smashing victory over David Vitter. The decisive win by Edwards will put Louisiana, a deep south state in the democratic column on January 11, 2016. The election of democrat Edwards proved the news media and the pundits all wrong in their predictions that Louisiana would remain a republican state like the rest of the south.
"PolitiDose" was one of the first, IF NOT THE FIRST news outlet to endorse Edwards and listed reasons why a democrat could win the state. The news media and the pundits kept up a steady drum beat that Louisiana was a REPUBLICAN STATE AND A CONSERVATIVE STATE. They were wrong on both counts and I will have a commentary on that matter coming soon, so stay tuned.
Julia O'Donoghue wrote an election article in the Times Picayune dated 11/22 concerning the election results. She must be a conservative because she said Edwards came out of no where to take down a republican in a red state. Really????? She must have forgotten Edwards received 40% of the vote in the first primary and over 646,000 votes Saturday in the run off. That does not sound like Edwards came out of no where. Julia also said in the article that Edwards surprisingly attracted a number of endorsements including the Louisiana Sheriff's Association and the Louisiana State Troopers Association. This writer was not surprised at all.
Mr. Edwards ran a positive campaign about the future of Louisiana and its people. The republicans ran a campaign against each other and President Obama and a negative one at that which is par for conservatives and their party. Jindal and the republican controlled state legislature is leaving governor elect Edwards a fiscal disaster to deal with much like George W. Bush left President Obama to deal with. Don't look for the news media in Louisiana or the republican party to give Edwards the ample time needed to deal with the mess left to him. One can tell by the narrative in Julia's article she is not happy with Louisiana becoming a blue state in January.
Governor elect Edwards will have a lot of tough work to do once he takes office and even before as he has already acknowledged. But this writer feels Edwards will do what democrats do, that is take care of the people's business to move the state and its people forward. The days of negativity and division will be gone when Edwards steps into the state capitol and the past should be a reminder our politics should never go there again.
Good luck and best wishes to governor elect Edwards as he attempts to create policy that will benefit the state and all its people.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
