By Barbra Murray
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 9

Delegates: 73

Chairman: Sen. John B. Breaux

Hotel: Hilton Los Angeles Airport (310) 410-4000

1996 Election:
Clinton – 52%
Dole – 40%
Perot – 7%

Louisiana's presidential primary took place March 14, exactly a week after Vice President Al Gore essentially clinched the Democratic presidential nomination with a multi-state sweep over former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley.

Bradley did exceed the minimum 15 percent vote threshold necessary to be allotted delegates to the national convention, so Louisiana's team of 73 delegates and 10 alternates includes eight of the Bradley faithful.

But according to the state Democratic Party Executive Director Trey Ourso, the entire group has a common goal -the election of Gore as president.

"We fully anticipate that all those people will support Gore. Our delegation is going to unify behind the vice president," Ourso asserted.

As for the party platform, Ourso expects it will be smooth sailing on the convention floor. "The platform committee has been meeting and I don't see any problems as it relates to our delegation," Ourso explained, adding that he thought that would apply to the convention as a whole.

While the strain of conservatism common in the South runs strong in Louisiana, the state has shifted somewhat less from its Democratic heritage than many other Southern states - with its large African-American population, one-third of the state's total, providing the party with a solid base.

President Clinton twice carried Louisiana's nine electoral votes, winning the state with a majority - 52 percent to 40 percent - over Republican Bob Dole in 1996.

Both of the state's U.S. senators - John B. Breaux and Mary L. Landrieu - and two of the state's seven U.S. House members are Democrats; though Republican Mike Foster is in his second term as governor, the Democrats still dominate both chambers of the state Legislature.

Breaux was chosen by his fellow delegates to head the Louisiana delegation. Other prominent delegates include Landrieu; U.S. Rep. William J. Jefferson; Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco; state Attorney General Richard P. Ieyoub; New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial; and state Sen. Cleo Fields, a former U.S. House member.

Fields in 1995 and Jefferson in 1999 fell short in their bids to become Louisiana's first African-American governor since the Reconstruction era, with both losing to Republican Foster.

LOUISIANA NOTABLES: U.S. Sens. John B. Breaux (the delegation chairman) and Mary L. Landrieu; Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco; state Democratic Party Chairman Ben Jeffers; Rep. William J. Jefferson; state Sen. Cleo Fields, a former U.S. House member; New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial; state Attorney General Richard P. Ieyoub; state Treasurer John Neely Kennedy; state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom.