I LOVE LA

The Louisiana governor's race is in the homestretch.

BATON ROUGE — A class of 30 LSU political science majors said there was little doubt about the winner of Wednesday night’s final gubernatorial debate going into Saturday’s election.

For most of the students, this was the first time they had seen Bobby Jindal and Kathleen Blanco in a “live” setting and not in well-rehearsed and edited campaign ads. Political science professor Robert Hogan incorporated the debate into his night political science class for juniors and seniors.

“Jindal smoked her,” said Darrell Kropog of Hammond, summing up the feelings of many of his classmates. “You can tell he thinks even faster than he talks because he never paused” in his answers.

Or perhaps not, as stated in this from WaPo:

Louisiana Governor's Race Douglas Brinkley Eisenhower Center for American Studies Thursday, November 13, 2003; 10:30 AM

In Saturday gubernatorial runoff election, voters in Louisiana will choose between Republican candidate Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, a 32 year old son of Indian immigrants, and Democrat Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a 60-year-old veteran of Louisiana politics

Who is leading in the latest polls? How are the two candidates different? What are the national implications of Saturday's outcome?

Douglas Brinkley, director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, was online to discuss the Louisiana governor's race and Saturday's runoff election

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New Orleans, La.: Recent polls have indicated about 20 percent of voters are undecided. Historically, how have these voters influenced elections? Do they typically swing toward one party or the other, or do they stay home?

Douglas Brinkley: Historically they stay home, but this is not a normal election. According to a south Eastern Louisiana university poll 24 percent of Democrats have crossed over to support the Republican Jindal. A University of New Orleans shows that 6 percent of Republicans are crossing over to Blanco. The point is not everybody is voting along straight party line.

Alexandria, Va.: What are the latest polls?

Douglas Brinkley: It is essentially a dead heat. There are two different important polls - one giving Jindal a slight edge, the other giving it to Blanco. It is a down to the wire election.

My prediction, Jindal 55, Blanco 45. About the same as every other recent governor's race.

Update: Wrong! And I admit I was way too optimistic. I'll let others post-mortem.