Winning and Losing
In 1975, Donelon ran successfully for Jefferson Parish President, the equivalent of Mayor of the large suburban parish outside New Orleans. He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995, and 1999. He resigned midway through his fifth full term to join Wooley's staff.
In 1979, Donelon passed up a reelection bid to the Jefferson Parish Council to make an unsuccessful race for Lieutenant Governor against his then fellow Democrat, Robert Louis "Bobby" Freeman of Plaquemine in Iberville Parish. Donelon was considered the "conservative" in that race to the "liberal" Freeman. Most of the supporters of David C. Treen, the winner of the gubernatorial election that year, are believed to have backed Donelon, and most of the backers of Democrat Louis J. Lambert went with Freeman. There was also a Republican in the race, Russel C. "Russ" Kiger, II, then a field representative of the National Cash Register Company based in Baton Rouge. Kiger said that his views parallelled those of Treen and claimed that his non-political technical background would have benefited state government. Yet, Kiger polled only 46,847 votes in the primary, fewer than half of the registered Republicans then on the Louisiana voter rolls, and was hence eliminated from the Donelon-Freeman general election. Jesse Monroe Knowles, a state senator and decorated World War II veteran from Lake Charles, was yet another candidate in the lieutenant governor's contest. Early in 1980, both Donelon and Knowles switched to Republican affiliation.
In the spring of 1980, Donelon ran unsuccessfully as the Republican consensus choice for the seat that Treen vacated in the United States House of Representatives from the 3rd congressional district. He was defeated by the Democrat Billy Tauzin, who fourteen years later in 1995 switched to Republican affiliation. In 1998, Donelon lost a race for the U.S. Senate against the Democrat John Breaux. Both Tauzin and Breaux retired from the House and Senate, respectively, in January 2005. In the spring of 1999, Donelon lost still another race to a fellow Republican for a state judgeship in Jefferson Parish.
Read more about this topic: Jim Donelon
Famous quotes containing the words winning and, winning and/or losing:
“The media network has its idols, but its principal idol is its own style which generates an aura of winning and leaves the rest in darkness. It recognises neither pity nor pitilessness.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“Our security depends on the Allied Powers winning against aggressors. The Axis Powers intend to destroy democracy, it is anathema to them. We cannot provide that aid if the public are against it; therefore, it is our responsibility to persuade the public that aid to the victims of aggression is aid to American security. I expect the members of my administration to take every opportunity to speak to this issue wherever they are invited to address public forums in the weeks ahead.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“All this stuff you heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans, traditionally, love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle.... Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost—and will never lose—a war, because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.”
—Francis Ford Coppola (b. 1939)