Editing Huey Long (section)

===1928 election===
{{Main|1928 Louisiana gubernatorial election}}
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| quote = And it is here, under this oak, where Evangeline waited in vain for her lover, Gabriel, who never came. This oak is an immortal spot, made so by [[Evangeline|Longfellow's poem]], but Evangeline is not the only one who has waited here in disappointment. Where are the schools that you have waited for your children to have, that have never come? Where are the roads and the highways that you sent your money to build, that are no nearer now than ever before? Where are the institutions to care for the sick and disabled? Evangeline wept bitter tears in her disappointment, but it lasted only through one lifetime. Your tears in this country, around this oak, have lasted for generations. Give me the chance to dry the eyes of those who still weep here.
| source = — An example of Long's 1928 campaign rhetoric<ref>[[#Brinkley|Brinkley (1983) [1982]]], pp. 20–21.</ref><ref name="mor1">[[#Moreau|Moreau (1965)]], p. 121.</ref>
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Long spent the intervening four years building his reputation and political organization, particularly in the heavily Catholic urban south. Despite disagreeing with their politics, Long campaigned for Catholic U.S. Senators in 1924 and 1926.<ref name="Brinkley 2011 p. 19"/> Government mismanagement during the [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]] gained Long the support of [[Cajuns]], whose land had been affected.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lichtenstein|first=Alex|date=April 23, 2006|title=The paradoxical Huey P. Long|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-04-23-0604210398-story.html|work=[[The Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=November 9, 2020|archive-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224200203/https://www.chicagotribune.com/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[[#White|White (2006)]], pp. 25–26.</ref> He formally launched his second campaign for governor in 1927, using the slogan, "Every man a king, but no one wears a crown", a phrase adopted from Democratic presidential candidate [[William Jennings Bryan]].<ref>[[#Brinkley|Brinkley (1983) [1982]]], p. 20.</ref>

Long developed novel campaign techniques, including the use of [[sound trucks]] and radio commercials.<ref name="Brinkley 2011 p. 19"/> His stance on race was unorthodox. According to [[T. Harry Williams]], Long was "the first Southern mass leader to leave aside race baiting and appeals to the Southern tradition and the Southern past and address himself to the social and economic problems of the present".<ref name=j265>[[#Jeansonne1|Jeansonne (1992)]], p. 265.</ref>{{efn|group=note|The conclusion that Long was progressive on the [[Political views of Huey Long#Race|issue of race]], widely repeated in the decades after Long's death, has faced increased scrutiny in recent years.<ref name=j265/><ref>[[#Jeansonne1992|Jeansonne (1992)]], p. 377.</ref>}} The campaign sometimes descended into brutality. When the 60-year-old incumbent governor called Long a liar during a chance encounter in the lobby of the [[The Roosevelt New Orleans|Roosevelt Hotel]], Long punched him in the face.<ref name="leg">{{cite news|last=Leavitt|first=Dylan Hayler|date=February 24, 2014|title=Huey Long's Life and Legacy|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2014/2/24/huey-longs-life-and-legacy|work=[[PBS]]|access-date=July 20, 2020|archive-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224200231/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2014/2/24/huey-longs-life-and-legacy|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the Democratic primary election, Long polled 126,842 votes: a plurality of 43.9 percent. His margin was the largest in state history, and no opponent chose to face him in a runoff. After earning the Democratic nomination, he easily defeated the Republican nominee in the general election with 96.1 percent of the vote.<ref>[[#calhoun|Calhoun (2008)]], p. 511.</ref> 

Some fifteen thousand Louisianians traveled to Baton Rouge for Long's inauguration.<ref name="FDR"/> He set up large tents, free drinks, and jazz bands on the capitol grounds, evoking [[First inauguration of Andrew Jackson|Andrew Jackson's 1829 inaugural festivities]].<ref>[[#Brinkley|Brinkley (1983) [1982]]], p. 23.</ref> His victory was seen as a public backlash against the urban establishment; journalist [[Hodding Carter]] described it as a "fantastic vengeance upon the [[Sodom and Gomorrah]] that was called New Orleans".<ref name="FDR"/> While previous elections were normally divided culturally and religiously, Long highlighted the sharp economic divide in the state and built a new coalition based on class.<ref name="Brinkley 2011 p. 21">[[#Brinkley|Brinkley (1983) [1982]]], p. 21.</ref><ref>[[#HavardHeberleHoward|Havard, Heberle, and Howard (1963)]], p. 15.</ref> Long's strength, said the contemporary novelist [[Sherwood Anderson]], relied on "the terrible South&nbsp;... the beaten, ignorant, Bible-ridden, white South. [[William Faulkner|Faulkner]] occasionally really touches it. It has yet to be paid for."<ref name="FDR"/>