Greater Baton Rouge Business Report: Racial depolarization

Louisiana's election was full of history this year--and contradictions.

The predominantly Democratic state embraced a Republican for the U.S. Senate, the first in some 120 years.

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But in East Baton Rouge Parish--one of the state's most Republican-voting parishes, with a 64% white voting majority--a black man was elected mayor, the first in the capital city's history.

Even while voting heavily for President Bush and Republican U.S. Rep. David Vitter in the Senate race, Baton Rouge voters were giving state Sen. Kip Holden a four-point margin over incumbent Mayor Bobby Simpson.

Part of the reason for Holden's victory was a black-white coalition of Baton Rouge leaders. State Rep. William Daniel, a wealthy South Baton Rouge Democrat who was defeated in the Sept. 18 primary, helped lead the group, which included former Gov. Buddy Roemer and Shaw Group CEO Jim Bernhard.

It was a coalition unlike any before it in Baton Rouge and helped Holden realize his life-long dream of being mayor. Daniel and Holden embraced before the television cameras in a show of emotion that was a metaphor for what happened as voters abandoned racially polarized voting.

The Republican and Democratic party operatives phoning voters to identify their choices caught first wind of it. "I can't tell you the number of people who are for Bush who are voting for Holden," said one Democrat. "I don't understand Baton Rouge."

Holden sounded the right note in claiming victory Tuesday night.

"All of you went out and made a step. That step has been heard across East Baton Rouge Parish, across the state and across the nation," he said. "We are one family, united--one Baton Rouge."

It helped, of course, that Simpson had very high negatives.

Pollster Verne Kennedy of Market Research Insight took a poll last January for a group of Baton Rouge businessmen. He told them Holden had a real shot at winning.

"They said, 'No, that can't happen,'" Kennedy said. "I told them, 'Guys, you don't understand how much voters dislike Simpson.'"

The affable Holden stepped into that breach.

Holden had overwhelming black support, with some white support, in getting past Daniel and into the runoff. It soon became hip among younger white voters to be for Holden. Then the white coalition of business leaders joined in. Two weeks out, Holden's tracking polling showed he had a 16-point lead.

There was a parade of endorsements. First came Daniel. Then were Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, Sen. Mary Landrieu and others.

But after the business leaders press conference, the black-white coalition began really rolling.

Simpson went on a classic attack campaign, branding Holden a liberal, charging he voted against the same-sex marriage ban, had an anti-business voting record and, horror of horrors, had video poker in his own bar. It didn't work.

So after years of Republican suburban rule, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans, blacks and whites, have taken control of the state's second largest city.

Vitter victorious

What made the difference for David Vitter? Almost everyone in the political world credits his effective advertising, which gave the stiff Vitter a warm, fuzzy personality. The family-oriented ad blunted all attempts to call Vitter's family values into question. Another big thing in Vitter's favor: His constituents have always loved him.

In the fourth term of former Gov. Edwin Edwards, Vitter often was the sole voice filing ethics complaints against the now-jailed politician. He fearlessly raised questions about the Edwards children trying to run a casino supplies business out of the Governor's Mansion. Vitter also incurred the wrath of Gov. Mike Foster, condemning the expansion of gambling. Through all of it, Vitter maintained a personal integrity that was unquestioned.

JOHN HILL is a Capitol reporter for Gannett newspapers. He can be reached at hillsails@aol.com.