Main foes concede election

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Oct 21, 2007 - Page: 1A

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U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, a Rhodes scholar whose parents immigrated to Louisiana from India, won a crowded race for governor Saturday.

With 99 percent of the vote counted, Jindal polled 685,555 votes or about 54 precinct of the 1,276,783 votes cast for governor Saturday. About 45 percent of the state’s 2.8 million registered voters cast a ballot in the primary.

With 3,942 of 3,967 precincts reporting, state Sen. Walter Boasso, D-Arabi, polled 223,276 votes; Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, D-Bossier Parish, had 160,453 votes; and New Orleans business John Georges, who ran without party affiliation, had 184,084 votes.

Jindal, R-Kenner, needed 50 percent of the vote plus one to avoid a Nov. 17 runoff.

Jindal is the first nonincumbent to win a gubernatorial primary outright since Louisiana abolished party primaries in 1975. Buddy Roemer avoided a 1987 runoff when Edwin Edwards dropped out of the race. However, the primary returns would have forced a runoff if Edwards had not conceded defeat.

The 36-year-old congressman also is believed to be the nation’s first Indian-American governor. He is the youngest governor in the country. Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt is seven months older than Jindal.

As a cheering crowd waited for Jindal to arrive in the ballroom, “Louisiana Saturday Night” blasted from speakers.

Supporters screamed “Bobby! Bobby! Bobby!” when Jindal mounted the stage at 10:55 p.m.

Jindal addressed jubilant supporters flanked by his parents, his wife, Supriya, and their two oldest children, Selia and Shaan.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Louisiana,” he told a packed ballroom at the Holiday Inn Select off College Drive in Baton Rouge.

Jindal joked that the Governor’s Mansion is about to become a playground for his young family. He promised that his children will not color on the walls.

Turning serious, he promised to get to work immediately by calling a special session on ethics reform shortly after his January inauguration.

Supporters cheered loudly when Jindal vowed not to be taken captive by the government crowd in Baton Rouge.