OntheWilderSide

The story is at: http://www.dailykingfish.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1064

In the 4th Congressional District in Louisiana, the vote difference between Paul Carmouche (Democrat) and John Fleming (Republican) is 356 votes. The Republican is in the lead. The Democrat is specifically not conceding, and says he will wait until Tuesday, December 9th, when machines will be checked.

Some notes from KW:

As of midnight, the Louisiana Secretary of State’s web-site kept only reporting 95 percent of precincts reporting. Even though the other race in the 2nd District had called 100% for awhile. It is 12:26 am, and the full results are now finally posted at that site.

The Secretary of State in Louisiana is a Republican, Jay Dardenne.

In the 4th District Congressional race, President-Elect Barack Obama had supported and done radio ads supporting his fellow Democrat, Paul Carmouche. With a probable loss for the Dems in the 4th, and a definite loss for the Dems in the 2nd, is this a commentary on Obama’s recent (conservative and pro-war) appointments?

The Republican candidate in the 4th District, John Fleming, who is in the lead, is funded by a Huckabee PAC. That PAC supports efforts to secure the border, strong national defense, and (Republican style) tax reform. An attack ad about Republican John Fleming notes that he wants to put a twenty something percent sales tax on EVERYTHING. That is hugely regressive and oppressive to the poor and middle class.

In the 2nd district, things are not so dire. The Democrat who lost was under federal indictment, so his loss is probably a good thing for the country at large. Also, perhaps his loss can serve as a warning to the Democratic Party that some things just don’t fly with voters. The Republican winner, Joseph Cao, was recently a Democrat, who switched parties as a strategy. He will be “fresh blood” in the Congress, as well as the first Vietnamese Congressperson. Some reports have called him a conservative, though my guess is, that me be on specific issues, since he is identified as a practicing Catholic. Also, in this 2nd District race, Obama had not campaigned for the Democrat incumbent who lost. Though, the loss still seems like some reflection on the party, or at least on the invincibility of the Democratic Party in heavily African-American districts.

In the 2nd Congressional District race, the Green Party candidate was Malik Rahim, a co-founder of Common Ground collective. Malik Rahim received 3% of the votes, which is 1,880 votes. (Vote totals for third party candidates often go up on the automatic recanvas. Excited pollworkers often miss third party numbers on election night.)

In the 2nd District race there was: The Republican. The Democrat. A Green. And, a Libertarian. I do not think the Libertarian’s stats shed much light on things, because he is a perennial candidate, and his numbers were rather low.

There was no Green Party candidate in the 4th Congressional District race. There were two independents in that race. One of them got 3% (like the Green in the 2nd) and the other got 1% (like the Libertarian in the 2nd).

Filed under: Barack Obama, democrat, election, Election 2008, elections, News, Political Websites, president, progressive politics, US Politics Tagged: | 4th, 4th District, Barack Obama, congress, democrat, democratic party, Jay Dardenne, John Fleming, Lousiana, New Orleans, Paul Carmouche