Holden jabs challengers

• By SCOTT DYER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Oct 6, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A day after winning re-election by one of the widest margins of victory in the history of East Baton Rouge Parish, Mayor-President Kip Holden could not resist taking a final barb at his three opponents in the race.

“They had a well-devised plan, but they didn’t have the guys to carry it out,” Holden said Sunday.

Holden, who was re-elected to his second term as mayor-president, said he remains convinced that outgoing Metro Councilman Wayne Carter, former state Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle, and former School Board member Ron Johnson were working together to unseat him, even though the three men have repeatedly denied they were in cahoots with each other.

Holden, who is East Baton Rouge’s first African-American mayor-president, said Carter and Kyle are both white Republicas who tried to lure white voters away from him. And Holden said Johnson, a fellow black Democrat, was trying to peel black voters off his re-election bid.

Holden said the three challengers went too far with their negative campaigning and personal attacks against him.

“Basically, their plan backfired, because most East Baton Rouge voters don’t like negative campaigning,” Holden said, noting that he made a point to keep his television advertising spots upbeat and positive.

Another huge factor in Holden’s success was that none of three challengers was able to raise enough money to launch their own TV ad campaigns to get their message out. Holden held a 20-to-1 advantage in cash on hand, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

En route to winning 71 percent of the votes cast and another four-year term, Holden ran first in all 314 precincts, according to complete but unofficial returns from the Secretary of State’s Office. And Holden garnered a majority of votes in all but four precincts.

Parishwide, Kyle ran second with 12 percent, Carter had 11 percent and Johnson finished with 6 percent.

Holden’s worst showing was in Precinct 2-8, Gas Utility Service District No. 1 at 10633 Zachary-Deerford Road, where 97 percent of the registered voters are white and party affiliations are fairly split between Republicans and Democrats.

In that precinct, Holden won only 45 percent of the vote at the Zachary precinct, while Carter, who has represented the Zachary area in the northern part of the parish for the past eight years, was a distant second with 32 percent. Kyle won 21 percent of the vote in that precinct and Johnson had 1 percent.

Holden’s strongest showing was at Precinct 1-95, Crestworth Middle Schools, where 98 percent of the registered voters are black and 85 percent are Democrats. Holden won 89 percent of the vote there, Johnson was second with 10 percent, Carter had 1 percent and Kyle won one vote for a 0 percent share.

Perhaps even more surprising was Holden’s showing in his opponents’ home precincts.