[StBernard] DEBATE for governor..will Jindal show up..7pm Thursday 9-27-07 WLAE

[Westley Annis]

7 p.m. hour-long debate Thursday with
the trio on Louisiana Public Broadcasting stations.
 CHANNEL 12  AND  14 ON COX CABLE TV

Jindal has agreed to participate in a 7 p.m. hour-long debate Thursday with
the trio on Louisiana Public Broadcasting stations. The debate is a joint
venture of LPB and the Council for a Better Louisiana.

Jindal's refusal to debate them evokes their ire but political analysts look
at it differently. The common belief is that as the front-runner, Jindal has
more to lose than gain in a debate. But some say he has reached the point of
irritating not only the other candidates but also some undecided voters who
are asking 'what has he got to hide?'"

Campbell quipped that he wonders if anyone has seen Jindal lately.

"I don't know if he is still living," he said. "I haven't seen him."

Campbell said Jindal "talks about ethics (in his ads) but he doesn't come to
debates." He said that when Jindal was head of the state Department of
Health and Hospitals he opposed the move to sue the tobacco companies, even
though he knew tobacco-related illnesses were costing the state millions of
dollars each year in Charity Hospital treatments.

Boasso said he wonders why Jindal is so down on the state in all of his ads
and "I'm disappointed to hear that he is the only honest person in
Louisiana. I would love to know who are all my corrupt friends?"

"He's never said I was corrupt," Georges said, evoking laughter, adding that
he believes it is "an outrage" that Jindal says Louisiana is filled with
corrupt leaders. He said such allegations by candidates "are to distract
people from their own weaknesses."

Georges said Jindal is among "the weakest delegation in Washington, D.C.,"
and didn't help Louisiana after hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the state.

"He doesn't need to be picking on Louisiana," Georges said. "Put the
candidate to the test about what he's