The US: Louisiana voted in a Democratic governor on Saturday, preventing Republicans from winning a clean sweep of governorships in every Deep South state for the first time since the Civil War, writes Conor O'Clery, North America Editor
As well as bucking the recent trend towards Republicans, the run-off election made history in that for the first time, Louisiana will have a female governor.
Democratic Lieutenant Governor Ms Kathleen Blanco defeated conservative Mr Bobby Jindal with 52 per cent of the vote.
Mr Jindal, whose ancestors come from the Indian sub-continent, and who was an assistant health secretary under the first president Bush, was favoured to retain the seat for his party.
A Rhodes Scholar, he would have been the first non-white elected governor in the Deep South (comprising Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina) since P.B.S. Pinchback, son of an emancipated slave, served as governor for 35 days in 1872-73.
Saturday's result was an important psychological boost for the 2004 Democratic presidential candidates, who spent much of the weekend making their case for the nomination in front of 7,500 party activists in Iowa on Saturday.
The first event in the selection process for a Democratic presidential candidate will be the Iowa caucus in January.
The event was hosted by Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton, who reportedly received a rapturous reception, confirming her claim to the Democratic nomination in 2008. Supporters at the event carried placards urging Ms Clinton to run in 2004 but the former first lady committed herself to endorsing the eventual winner in the 2004 primary elections.
"America is ready for a change and America is ready for a Democratic president again," she said. The candidates were the most accomplished in terms of public service since 1960, and "one of them will be successful". Front-runner Howard Dean accused other candidates of joining in "gang-tackling" to bring him down.
Massachusetts Sen John Kerry criticised the former Vermont governor's campaign, saying, "We need to offer answers, not just anger." Retired general Wesley Clark, who is not actively competing in Iowa, is to launch an advertising spending blitz in New Hampshire to revive his struggling campaign.