Democrats Republicans Departing Governor Foster was disqualified from succeeding himself for a third term by Louisiana's constitution, so the 2003 race was perceived as wide open and saw a large number of candidates enter the campaign.

Ieyoub was seen as one of the strongest Democratic candidates throughout the campaign, and only narrowly lost a slot in the runoff to Blanco, who had a strong base of support in the Acadian parishes and among women voters.

The efforts of Leach to appeal to the same base as Ieyoub led them to split the Democratic vote and to come in third and fourth.

In the runoff, Jindal received endorsements from the New Orleans Times-Picayune (the largest paper in Louisiana), New Orleans Mayor Nagin (who had supported Ewing in the primary but declined to endorse Blanco in the runoff), and outgoing Republican governor Mike Foster.

[citation needed] The runoff between Bobby Jindal and Kathleen Blanco brought two 'firsts' for Louisiana political history.