Bayou State is turning into the Turnout State

• By CAIN BURDEAU
• Associated Press writer
• Published: Nov 3, 2008 - UPDATED: 5:30 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- In the final stretch from the political conventions to Election Day, Barack Obama didn't come to Louisiana for one of his stadium-packed speeches. John McCain's "Straight Talk" tour didn't make it to Louisiana either.

Louisiana simply wasn't a battleground, and candidates spent their time and money on bigger prizes - Pennsylvania, Florida, Missouri, Ohio. As for the pundits, they've said all along it looks like conservative-leaning Louisiana is going for Republican McCain. End of debate.

But Louisiana voters don't seem to care. For them, the presidential race is as real as if the future of the nation depended on their vote.

The passion stood out in early voting, which ended Oct. 28. Record turnout numbers were reeled in: They just about doubled turnout for both the 2004 presidential contest and last year's gubernatorial race.

"It's history," said Melvin DeTiege, a retired shipyard painter from New Orleans, as he helped his disabled sister vote early.

A 69-year-old Southern black man, DeTiege could hardly believe that a presidential showdown included the nation's first black candidate. Even more remarkable, he said, were polls showing Obama in the lead to take the White House.

"It's good to see that anyone can become president," he said. "If he wins, that means people are changing - not having the racial thing mixed in there."

Louisiana may be on the cusp of something extraordinary: Turning in the highest turnout ever in a state where political passions are ingrained in the landscape.

Not only that. If the right elements combine, analysts said, Louisiana could deliver one of the highest turnouts in U.S. history.

"You've got high black interest, high Republican interest and high interest by the so-called Wodo - what we term the 'white-other race-Democrat-other party,'" said Greg Rigamer, a New Orleans-based election analyst. "It will be the highest in Louisiana history for sure."

Elliott Stonecipher, a Shreveport-based political analyst, went even further.

"Certainly in what I consider modern electoral history of America - roughly the Eisenhower years, once politics went media over the past half century - we could have highest turnout ever, here and nationally," Stonecipher said. He recently reviewed presidential election returns in Louisiana going back to 1900.

Take a look at the dynamics.