Conservative Governors Gaining Steam

Governor-elect Bobby Jindal (R-LA) is the son of Indian immigrants, his father an engineer and his mother a nuclear physicist. He is the first nonwhite to be elected governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction. A Roman Catholic convert, he has told interviewers that he experienced no discrimination because of race or ancestry, saying, "All that is behind us." With Jindal's impressive victory Louisiana seems ready for change. After the lackluster performance of Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco people are eager for action.

Jindal campaigned as a conservative reformer, saying he wanted to pass strict ethics rules for the notoriously out-of-bounds Legislature but vowing also to spur business growth and open classrooms to the teaching of creationism as an alternative to evolution. In addition, Jindal wants to fight crime and spur growth in Louisiana’s already huge gas and oil reserves.

Republicans have now established a phalanx of successful conservative governors across the Southeast who share a pragmatic streak that voters seem to like. They are the mirror image of the band of pragmatic liberal governors the Democrats have elected in states ranging from New Hampshire to Arizona, but concentrated in the Midwest -- Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Next door to Louisiana in Mississippi, Haley Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, is about to win easy reelection to a second term. In Alabama and Georgia, two more Republicans, Bob Riley and Sonny Perdue, both former businessmen, are in their second terms as governor. And in Florida, Charlie Crist, another Republican, has proved popular with his conservative business attributes.

Take a clear look at the economic prosperity in the United States right now. States in the southeast have successful economic and business outlooks. States ruled by liberal governors over a stark and bleak contrast. Low taxes, reduced government spending, fiscal and moral discipline are what the people look to in leadership. And it is the recipe for Federalism.