Talk Elections

Attorney General Buddy Caldwell switching parties

by: Lamar Parmentel

Tue Feb 01, 2011

According to high-placed Democratic operatives, Attorney General Buddy Caldwell will switch parties this week and become a Republican.

http://www.dailykingfish.com

     This makes him the first Republican AG of Louisiana since the Reconstruction, doesn't it?

Didn't John Kennedy switch as well?  Or was he not AG?

Not surprising. The Democratic Party is dead in Louisiana.

Any indication Jim Hood will follow Caldwell's lead?

thankfully

     I thought so, but evidently not (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Attorney_General).

Thought this would happen.


Only one statewide Democrat left.

The LA Democratic Party is dead except for the Landrieus. Better Red than Dead, which is partially why both houses of the legislature flipped for the first time since Reconstruction. He's probably trying to avoid Griffiths' fate by hoping Jindal and the party apparatus remains neutral in the GOP primary. Not happening, but it's a gesture.

He was Treasurer.

Shes gone in 2014.

He switched, but was not AG.


Had Landrieu been up in 2010 or Vitter up in 2008, not sure if either would have been re-elected. Both were lucky to be up for re-election in strong years for their party.

After the next congressional elections, the U.S. House delegation will most likely be 5 R's and 1 D.

Are you sure, does New Orleans have enough people to keep its own district or will it have to expand a ways deep into GOP territory?

You'll be amazed at the value of the Landrieu name though. But if things don't get much better, she'll probably suffer the same fate as her friend Blanche Lincoln.

Its does worry me that she is the last statewide Dixiecrat left.

Brandon has a good point; Landrieu and Vitter were each very lucky in the timing of their elections.


I've tried it on the redistricting app. At best, I could only get a New Orleans-based district to be 50% black, 41% white. To get a solid black district, you'd have to extend it to Baton Rouge.

I'm sure more minorities have come back to LA since 2008, but the population loss there has been very severe.

You like Louisiana Republicans Franzl?

     The quality of Louisiana Republicans aside, Louisiana Democrats were quite a vile bunch.

At least Southern Republicans stand for something, repugnant though it might be. White Southern Democrats are in general entirely self-serving.

I'll gladly welcome him to the party.

Of course not, but I hate the Southern Democratic brand more. I'd prefer the Democratic Party not rely on people that won't ever vote for its policies when it gets serious.

If my count is correct, his party switch evens out the state attorney generals at 25D and 25R, not that it counts for anything.  Though I can't recall when there were so many Republicans in this group. 

D:  AR, CA, CT, DE, HI, IA, IL, KY, MA, MD, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, TN, VT, WV

R:  AK, AL, AZ, CO, FL, GA, ID, IN, KS, LA, ME, MI, ND, NE, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WY

     To put that into map form:

()

VRA

it has to expand a ways deep into Baton Rouge.

Were you replying or elaborating? :P

Despite they douchebaggery, Southern Democrats are still less bats**t insane than Southern Republicans.

QFT

Replying to jbrase.

To have a majority black district would have to be a strange gerrymander. The Louisiana Family Forum has released a possible map and it does indeed go from NO to BR. Also, since the DOJ needs to approve all districts because of the mentioned Voting Rights Act (that 6 of Louisiana's 7 Representatives supported) does anyone think our current AG would accept anything that does not include a majority black district, no matter how weird a gerrymander is required?

On the other hand, there was a racial gerrymander in the 1990's that the Supreme Court rejected. I've haven't read it very closely, but the result was the districts were redrawn.

---

I local radio station is discussing this now. He confirmed you need to include NO and BR in the same district to get 50+%.

There'd be nothing particularly strange about the district - it would certainly be above par as far as minority-majority districts go. The struck-down second Black district from the early 90s went from (not sure where it's southern end was actually... Donaldsonville?) to Shreveport.
Besides, with the loss of a seat, there'd have to be some strange compromise somewhere even without the VRA. The state happened to map well with seven districts - maps from back when it had eight looked worse.
Though it is a somewhat perverse consequence that the district that grew most healthily - the Baton Rouge district - is the one most likely to be effectively eliminated. And the white parts of EBR (not to mention Livingston) might not be too happy upended to Alexander's district.

Bubba Chaney switched to the GOP, District 19, Louisiana H of R.  Partisan balance is now 53-R, 47-D, 4-I, 1 vacant.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20110208/UPDATES01/110208006 (http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20110208/UPDATES01/110208006)

I'm surprised there any Ds left to switch down anywhere in Old, Deep South. Leaving the dems to join the GOP. It sorta sounds like a typical lottery winner thing to do, doesn't it?

Bubba Chaney is the best name ever.

This is the fourth Louisiana State Representative to switch parties since November. They a) don't want to be in the minority when they've grown accustomed to the power, and b) don't want to be screwed over in redistricting (and plenty of legislators will be screwed; the huge post-Katrina population shift means basically the entire map will need to look different).

I wonder why Jim Hood didn't also switch parties since Mississippi is turning Republican at least as surely as Louisiana is.  He can see which way the winds are blowing in his home state. 

Maybe because he is a real Democrat? I don't know his ideology but I imagine there must be some white moderates and liberals in Mississippi.

OT:
What is it that causes Landslide Lyndon, px75, to always be in a  "This user is currently ignored" status?

Good sense.

It's Mississippi. Only liberals there are black.

This seems as good a place to stick this as any: another state legislator abandoned the sinking ship that is the Louisiana Democratic Party. (http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/5a4e22c312fb47a7abe442eac5dd1ed6/LA--Lawmaker-Party-Switch/)

And there's still eight more days until the 2011 extraordinary session (for redistricting) convenes. 26 white Democrats in the LA House left, about half of whom are in marginal seats and/or are in a position to get screwed pretty badly by redistricting. I would not be surprised at all to see a few more party switchers in the next week.

You'd think this would be a catastrophic event (i.e. a bunch right after each other) rather than staggered like this.  Either the LA Republican party is promising them sweet deals sequentially or each of these reps are waking up from 4-month comas in turn

Most likely, it is a little bit of both.

Another day, another defector, (http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/3769860428dd4288aa3a8905a0fa1612/LA--Lawmaker-Party-Switch/) this time a State Senator.

Another State Senator changes parties. (http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/03/republican_gains_continue_in_s.html) This guy was just elected in a 2009 special. Must be a protege of Rodney Alexander.

He's actually from Houma, and has a heavily Cajun constituency.  From that article, the main reason behind the switch is his disagreements with Pres. Obama and the National Dems. on a couple of parochial issues, especially over oil drilling, an area where many coastal Louisianans are in favor of but national Dems cool with.  Also, the drilling moratorium is still in place; which seems to create a lot of backlash among Cajuns, and more or less leads to GOP's gain on Louisiana's SD's 22  and 26, and HD-46, which has pretty similar constituencies.

As for the Rodney Alexander protege, I would agree it this refers to he pace of party switching. However, State Sen. Chabert dosen't share any constituencies with Rep. Alexander in any way.

Hahaha, they just keep switching!

Whatever the excuses these guys are making to try to justify their sudden switches, do realize it's all opportunism. Yes, Sen. Chabert, maybe you do have problems with President Obama and other national Democrats' stance on offshore drilling and such, but how awfully convenient it is for you to make this realization, coincidentally just in time to stay in the majority and keep your underpopulated district intact!