Source: http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=313632447473177
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, December 08, 2008 4:20 PM PT
Politics: The election of a Republican as the first-ever Vietnamese-American congressman is not an "odd news" item. Joseph Cao represents the future of the GOP — if it wants success.
Read More: Election 2008
The latest Republican standard-bearer was a Navy pilot who was tortured as a POW in North Vietnam. How ironic that in the wake of John McCain's loss, the most exciting victory for Republicans is that of one of the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese boat people who fled their country's communist regime.
Anh "Joseph" Quang Cao over the weekend won Louisiana's gerrymandered 2nd Congressional District over Democratic Rep. William Jefferson, who had been indicted on numerous corruption charges last year after the FBI allegedly found $90,000 in cash in the freezer of his home.
Beating someone as scandalized as Jefferson might not seem like much of a feat. But that House district has been rigged in favor of Democrats for more than four decades, regularly delivering 75% to 80% majorities to the Party of Jefferson (both of them).
Cao received not quite 50% of the vote to Jefferson's 47% in the runoff, but considering the incumbent's corruption, shouldn't any opponent have won in a landslide? Alas, too often heavily liberal districts will re-elect corrupt Democratic incumbents no matter how seedy their behavior.
The late Rep. Gerry Studds, for instance, was repeatedly re-elected in spite of being censured by the House after revelation of his sexual relations with a 16-year-old male congressional page.
Fellow Massachusetts House member Barney Frank took 66% of the vote — and larger majorities since — after he was reprimanded by more than 400 of his colleagues because a male prostitute was found apparently using his apartment to operate an escort service.
Both men even became committee chairmen.
In this race, Cao was able to break the pattern as a candidate in the mold of his state's Republican governor, Indian-American Bobby Jindal — staunchly conservative on moral issues and embracing a can-do approach on economic issues. He focused on job creation, opposed government spending initiatives, favored the redevelopment of the Port of New Orleans and sought education reform.
Once a Catholic seminarian, Cao was a legal counsel to Boat People S.O.S., a refugee advocacy organization. He also served as an attorney specializing in immigration issues. His community activism has included rebuilding schools, medical clinics and retirement facilities.
The Cao win comes after last Tuesday's re-election of Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss in a landslide 14-point runoff victory in Georgia. Both victories were, of course, in the conservative South. But the winners in both also adhered to the conventional formula of supporting low taxes, less government spending and an assertive foreign policy, while defending traditional values.
Louisiana may be giving the country a preview of the multicultural figures who strongly believe in the same principles as the most successful Republican leaders of the recent past and will lead the GOP of the future.
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