Louisiana Governor Field Is Cut to 2

Louisiana narrowed its field of candidates for governor on Saturday to two: One spot went to Republican Bobby Jindal, 32, the son of immigrants from India. Three Democrats were vying for the second spot -- with Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, 60, holding a narrow lead.

“I’m exhausted, but thrilled,” said Jindal. “We have believed all along. Our message was resonating from Day One.”

Jindal, a conservative who says he is guided by his Christian faith and has compared his politics to President Bush’s, was leading by a substantial margin, according to the Louisiana secretary of state.

The top two vote-getters in the primary election will meet in a head-to-head election Nov. 15. The winner will replace Louisiana Gov. M.J. “Mike” Foster Jr., a Republican who has served for eight years and could not run again because of term limits.

Jindal, a Baton Rouge, La., native, was a Rhodes scholar and is seen as something of a political prodigy; he was named secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals at just 24. Most recently, he served as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a job he quit to move back to Louisiana to run for governor.

Blanco, a moderate Democrat who has served as the state’s lieutenant governor for the past eight years, was duking it out for second place with two other Democrats: Richard Ieyoub, 59, the state’s attorney general since 1992, and former congressman Claude “Buddy” Leach, 69.

With 93% of precincts reporting, Jindal had 32.4% of the vote, according to the secretary of state. Blanco had received 17.5% percent of the vote. Ieyoub was in third with 16.7% and Leach was in fourth with 14.1%.

Even for a state with an electorate that one analyst called “volatile,” the campaign was one of the most surprising in recent history. It was remarkable in part because of the success of Jindal and Blanco. Since Reconstruction, only white men have served as governor.

Earl Black, an author, professor of political science at Rice University and a noted observer of Southern politics, believes Louisiana conservatives merely found the right candidate in Jindal, the son of immigrants from the Punjab province of India.

“For a lot of Republicans, they would be very happy to support somebody that would show, in contrast to some accusations, that they are not prejudiced,” Black said. “They just want someone with a common ideology.”

Though from different political parties, Jindal and Blanco share many beliefs: Both favor restrictions on abortion rights, for example, and oppose gun-control efforts. Both ran on a pro-business platform and want to eliminate a corporate tax structure that they say discourages economic development.

Many observers also said the campaign was remarkable for what it wasn’t -- rife with controversy, corruption or cronyism, like some past elections. Instead, the leading candidates said they sensed early that voters wanted them to address the state’s many problems, such as poverty, job losses and large numbers of residents who have no health-care coverage.

Louisiana has an unusual election system. Candidates for governor typically declare a political affiliation, but all candidates’ named are listed on a single ballot. And if one candidate does not win more than 50% of the primary votes, the top two vote-getters, regardless of political party, meet in a runoff.