Umesh, >ofcourse noone iin his family will need to worry about it -- only the >New Orleans' black natives need worry. Right?
Couldn't make out heads or tails here! Could you explain a bit more vividly> If there was a caustic remark somewhere, I sure did miss it! --Ram On 10/19/07, umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Good to see an Indian American win something - regardless of his hate > crime laws opposition -ofcourse noone iin his family will need to worry > about it -- only the New Orleans' black natives need worry. Right? > > Umesh > > *Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>* wrote: > > http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/us/19louisiana.html?_r=1&oref=slogin > > > > > > > > > Highlighting mine. > > > cm > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > * > *An Improbable Favorite Emerges in Cajun Country* > Lee Celano for The New York Times > > Bobby Jindal, left, an Indian-American, is favored to win the primary > election for Louisiana governor by enough to avoid a runoff. > > > Article Tools Sponsored By > By ADAM NOSSITER > Published: October 19, 2007 > > FRANKLINTON, La., Oct. 17 - An Oxford-educated son of immigrants from > India is virtually certain to become the leading candidate for Louisiana's > next governor in Saturday's primary election. It would be an unlikely choice > for a state that usually picks its leaders from deep in the rural > hinterlands and has not had a nonwhite chief executive since Reconstruction. > > But peculiar circumstances have combined to make Representative Bobby > Jindal, a conservative two-term Republican, the overwhelming favorite. > Analysts predict Mr. Jindal, 36, could get more than 50 percent of the vote > in the open primary, thus avoiding a November runoff and becoming the > nation's first Indian-American governor. If he fails to win a majority, he > would face the next-highest vote getter in the runoff. > > Louisiana Democrats are demoralized, caught between the perception of > post-hurricane incompetence surrounding their standard bearer, Gov. Kathleen > Babineaux Blanco, who is not running for re-election, and corruption > allegations against senior elected officials like William J. Jefferson, the > congressman from New Orleans. > > Leading Democrats begged off the governor's race, and Mr. Jindal's > opponents are from the second tier, trailing so badly in polls that Mr. > Jindal has ignored most of the scheduled debates among candidates, leaving > the challengers to take grumbling verbal shots at his empty chair. > > The prize is not necessarily an enviable one: Louisiana is the nation's > poorest state, measured by per capita income; one of its unhealthiest; the > worst in infant mortality; and the least educated. It is last in attracting > new college-educated workers. Tens of thousands of people remain displaced > by Hurricane Katrina, the police department in New Orleans still operates > largely out of trailers, and neighborhoods are still trying to rebuild. > > "The storms didn't cause all of our problems - they revealed a lot of our > problems," Mr. Jindal said in a brief interview this week. "It's an > incredible opportunity to change the state." > > But he is not a natural fit for Louisiana. The state likes its governors > to know the fundamentals of the Cajun two-step, speak some derivation of > French patois, and at least get to a duck blind, regularly and publicly. But > Mr. Jindal has labored assiduously to overcome the disadvantage of being a > non-Cajun, Rhodes Scholar policy wonk whose given name was Piyush, and who > has a penchant for 31-point plans. > > *He is a born-again Roman Catholic who has suggested that teaching > intelligent design as an alternative to evolution may not be out of place in > public schools, favors a ban on abortion and opposes hate-crimes laws. > Conservative views aside, the slightly built congressman is anything but a > backslapping good ol' boy.* > > He lost to Ms. Blanco in 2003 largely in places like this, Washington > Parish, a hardscrabble rural area 70 miles north of New Orleans, where > voters openly expressed unease four years ago about opting for someone of > Mr. Jindal's race. In areas where the Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke won in > the 1991 governor's race - here and in the deeply conservative parishes of > north Louisiana - Mr. Jindal lost. > > But by Wednesday, three days before Mr. Jindal's second attempt at the > governor's mansion, he was greeted here, if not with great warmth, at least > without alarm. The congressman, tossing souvenir cups from a fire truck in a > town parade, was met with shouts of "Hey Bobby!" from the rural whites > lining the route. > > Mr. Jindal picked out familiar faces in the crowd, greeted the sheriff > like an old friend and posed for a picture with man sporting a Confederate > flag tattoo. > > For months, the congressman has cultivated the rural areas where he lost > in 2003, "witnessing" in remote Pentecostal churches, neutralizing his image > of being hyperqualified - head of the state health department at 24, head of > the university system at 28 and under secretary for the Department of Health > and Human Services at 30 under President Bush - that did not help him the > last time. In one recent debate, Mr. Jindal boasted that he had made 77 > trips to north Louisiana since announcing his candidacy. > > Insinuations about his excessive intellectual capacity are still being > made. "It's not going to be about the smartest person in this race," Walter > Boasso, a Democratic state senator and one of Mr. Jindal's opponents, said > recently. But such remarks do not seem to be catching on with voters > apparently weary of bumbling at the Capitol in Baton Rouge and at City Hall > in New Orleans. > > This time, Mr. Jindal is aiming his multipoint plans at ethical reform in > state government, schools and economic development, and attacks on his > wonkishness have fallen flat. Mr. Jindal kept a low profile after Hurricane > Katrina, but opponents are not attacking him for that either, perhaps > because few others in Louisiana's political class have stepped up. > > Mr. Jindal told a group in Jefferson Parish this week that he had "150 > specific proposals," after rattling unflinchingly through a good many in a > 12-minute speech. > > He makes a particular case for a "war on corruption," as he puts it, in > Baton Rouge, proposing to tighten financial disclosures on lobbyists and > legislators and to prohibit business relationships between legislators and > the state. He promises to build up infrastructure like ports, to devote > attention to research universities and promote technical training. He hardly > mentions Mr. Bush, a sharp contrast to four years ago when he often boasted > of his connections to the president. > > Past governors have charged into Baton Rouge promising reform only to > founder in the change-resistant Legislature. Mr. Jindal will most likely > face long odds too, if he fulfills the near-universal prediction that he > will come out on top. > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > > > > > Umesh Sharma > > Washington D.C. > > 1-202-215-4328 [Cell] > > Ed.M. - International Education Policy > Harvard Graduate School of Education, > Harvard University, > Class of 2005 > > http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info) > > http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info) > > > > > www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used ) > http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/ > > > > http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/ > > ------------------------------ > Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Try it > now<http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTEydmViNG02BF9TAzIxMTQ3MTcxOTAEc2VjA21haWwEc2xrA3RhZ2xpbmU> > . > > > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > >
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