Sunday, October 21, 2007

Lazy Reporting on the Governor's Race in Louisiana

So, the conventional wisdom must be that Jindal won because there weren't as many Democrats in New Orleans. From the article in Bloomberg that I've already quoted:

Jindal, a Bush administration supporter in Congress, was the only Republican running for governor in a state where Democrats make up about half the registered voters and outnumber Republicans two-to-one.

Since hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, tens of thousands of New Orleans residents who historically voted Democratic have been dislocated.

After Hurricane

The Secretary of State's office reports 56,995 fewer Democratic voters now than when the hurricane hit, and 11,355 fewer black Democrats. Those numbers may understate reality because at least two years must elapse before the state purges former residents from voter rolls, office spokesman Jacques Berry said.

The reporter could have compared the numbers from the 2003 race and yesterday's race and would have noticed what David Freddoso of The Corner noticed, that the Jindal won because he won more of the upstate vote.