No-Go For Blanco

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco avoids the inevitable by declaring now she will not seek re-election.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, whose popularity plummeted after two hurricanes devastated Louisiana during her term, announced Tuesday that she will not seek re-election.

The decision will let her get what she called important initiatives through an upcoming legislative session without having to worry about political considerations, she said.

"I am doing this so we can work without interference from election year politics," Blanco said.

Her definition of "work," however, differs from ours.

Blanco, 64, had been widely criticized not only for her immediate response to the storms, but also for a bureaucracy-bogged recovery effort.

That effort included the "Road Home" program, designed to funnel billions in federal dollars to pay hurricane-struck homeowners for repairs or buyouts. More than 115,000 people whose homes were damaged in 2005 by the hurricanes have applied for the aid. As of this week, about 3,000 have received grants.

Just last week, Blanco was promoting a plan for re-election and raising money to support it. But enter John Breaux, the former U.S. Senator who remains very popular in the state.

The stunning decision opens the door for former U.S. Sen. John Breaux, who has flirted with getting into the race but told fellow Democrats he would not run in the Oct. 20 primary unless Blanco decided to step aside.

Recent polling shows Blanco badly trailing Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal of Kenner, in what would have been a rematch of their 2003 runoff won by Blanco with a 52 to 48 percent margin.

With Breaux not wishing to challenge a sitting governor -- and that governor behind the likely Republican nominee -- one can only suspect that Blanco couldn't find campaign contributors for a protracted battle, first in the primary (two beatable candidates have already announced -- but had Breaux not entered the race, a bigger name would have) and then in the general election.

Is it time to start the Draft Willy Wonka movement?