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→Legislative highlights
==Legislative highlights==
==Legislative highlights==
Blair was affiliated with the anti-[[Earl Long|Long]] faction of his state's party, principally because he loathed [[corruption]] and favoritism in government.
Blair was affiliated with the anti-[[Earl Long|Long]] faction of his state's party, principally because he loathed [[corruption]] and favoritism in government.<ref name=statement/>
As a House member, Blair supported farmers in need of open range lands. During the administration of [[Governor]] [[Robert F. Kennon]], Blair authored the bill to fence the highways to keep roaming [[cattle]] off the roads. He worked to obtain the relocation to Alexandria of St. Mary's Training School for the handicapped. In the Senate, Blair pushed for the creation of Buhlow Lake adjacent to the Red River in Pineville, where boat races are held. In the House multi-district, Blair served with two colleagues from Rapides Parish, Lloyd George Teekell and H. N. Goff. In effect, Blair replaced William George Bowdon, Jr., who left the legislature after a single term to run successfully for [[mayor]] of Alexandria in 1953, a post that Bowdon held for sixteen years.
As a House member, Blair supported farmers in need of open range lands. During the administration of [[Governor]] [[Robert F. Kennon]], Blair authored the bill to fence the highways to keep roaming [[cattle]] off the roads. He worked to obtain the relocation to Alexandria of St. Mary's Training School for the handicapped. In the Senate, Blair pushed for the creation of Buhlow Lake adjacent to the Red River in Pineville, where boat races are held. In the House multi-district, Blair served with two colleagues from Rapides Parish, Lloyd George Teekell and H. N. Goff. In effect, Blair replaced [[W. George Bowdon, Jr.]], who left the legislature after a single term to run successfully in 1953 for [[mayor]] of Alexandria, a post that Bowdon held for sixteen years.
Early in 1955, a dispute broke out at the 1,150-patient Louisiana Colony and Training School at nearby Kingsville north of Pineville. [[Willie Kees]], a Pineville businessman had resigned as mayor in 1952 to head the school. When Kees was named superintendent in December 1954, a dispute broke out with William P. Hurder, the clinical director who was both a [[psychologist]] and a [[physician]]. The two had previously shared authority. Kees' promotion touched off charges of "politics" in his selection. Blair defended the Kees selection, but because of the controversy, Kees resigned from the school to return to the private sector.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm/ref/collection/LSUHSC_NCC/id/2319|title=Hurder takes post as colony superintendent|publisher=louisdl.louislibraries.org|date=January 19, 1955|accessdate=July 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/24584268/|title=State Colony Resignation Brings Rift|date=January 19, 1955|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|page=2|accessdate=July 24, 2015}}</ref> Kees Park in Pineville is named for the late mayor.
Early in 1955, a dispute broke out at the 1,150-patient Louisiana Colony and Training School at nearby Kingsville north of Pineville. [[Willie Kees]], a Pineville businessman had resigned as mayor in 1952 to head the school. When Kees was named superintendent in December 1954, a dispute broke out with William P. Hurder, the clinical director who was both a [[psychologist]] and a [[physician]]. The two had previously shared authority. Kees' promotion touched off charges of "politics" in his selection. Blair defended the Kees selection, but because of the controversy, Kees resigned from the school to return to the private sector.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm/ref/collection/LSUHSC_NCC/id/2319|title=Hurder takes post as colony superintendent|publisher=louisdl.louislibraries.org|date=January 19, 1955|accessdate=July 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/24584268/|title=State Colony Resignation Brings Rift|date=January 19, 1955|publisher=''Lake Charles American-Press''|page=2|accessdate=July 24, 2015}}</ref> Kees Park in Pineville is named for the late mayor.
Blair first ran for the state Senate in 1956 but was defeated in the [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]] landslide by the Longite choice, Crawford Hugh "Sammy" Downs of Alexandria, the son of a former Rapides Parish sheriff, [[U. T. Downs]], and the father of the former district attorney, [[Jam Downs]]. On December 5, 1959, Blair unseated Downs in the Democratic primary.<ref>''The Shreveport Times,'' December 6, 1959, p. 1.</ref> In 1964, Blair was beaten by George Ray Lee, who died in office midway through his term. Lee was the son of former Senator George W. Lee, who filled the seat from 1936 to 1940 , and also the brother of later Pineville municipal and state court Judge [[Richard E. "Dick" Lee]]. In the 1966 [[special election]] to replace Lee, Blair waged a victorious comeback. He won again in 1968 and 1972. From 1969 to 1972, he and Sylvan Friedman of Natchitoches Parish represented a two-member district that included Grant Parish.
Blair first ran for the state Senate in 1956 but was defeated in the [[Earl Long|Earl Kemp Long]] landslide by the Longite choice, Crawford Hugh "Sammy" Downs of Alexandria, the son of a former Rapides Parish sheriff, [[U. T. Downs]], and the father of the former district attorney, [[Jam Downs]]. On December 5, 1959, Blair unseated Downs in the Democratic primary.<ref>''The Shreveport Times,'' December 6, 1959, p. 1.</ref> In 1964, Blair was beaten by George Ray Lee, who died in office midway through his term. Lee was the son of former Senator George W. Lee, who filled the seat from 1936 to 1940 , and also the brother of later Pineville municipal and state court Judge [[Richard E. "Dick" Lee]]. In the 1966 [[special election]] to replace Lee, Blair waged a victorious comeback. He won again in 1968 and 1972. From 1969 to 1972, he and Sylvan Friedman of Natchitoches Parish represented a two-member district that included Grant Parish.
In his last Senate term, Blair was also elected on a nonpartisan ballot as a delegate to the 1973 Louisiana Constitutional Convention, which drafted the state's current framework of government, as approved by voters in the spring of 1974.
In his last Senate term, Blair was also elected on a nonpartisan ballot as a delegate to the 1973 Louisiana Constitutional Convention, which drafted the state's current framework of government, as approved by voters in the spring of 1974.
==The election of 1971==
==The election of 1971==
In the 1971 closed [[primary]], the last held for Louisiana legislative races, Blair was forced into a second primary by [[Floyd Smith]], a Pineville City Councilman and former mayor. The third-placed candidate, [[Arnold Jack Rosenthal]], elected in 1973 as the last of Alexandria's finance and utilities commissioners, backed Smith in the runoff election, but Blair, defeated Smith by some two thousand votes. It was something of a Long v. anti-Long battle in that Smith was a native of Winnfield and his mother was a Long. There was no [[Republican Party|Republican]] opposition in the [[general election]] held on February 1, 1972; so Blair secured his fourth and final term in the new single-member Senate District 29.
In the 1971 closed [[primary]], the last held for Louisiana legislative races, Blair was forced into a second primary by [[Floyd Smith]], a Pineville City Councilman and former mayor. The third-placed candidate, [[Arnold Jack Rosenthal]], elected in 1973 as the last of Alexandria's finance and utilities commissioners, backed Smith in the runoff election, but Blair, defeated Smith by some two thousand votes. It was something of a Long v. anti-Long battle in that Smith was a native of Winnfield and his mother was a Long. There was no [[Republican Party|Republican]] opposition in the [[general election]] held on February 1, 1972; so Blair secured his fourth and final term in the new single-member Senate District 29.
==Defeat in 1975==
==Defeat in 1975==
After a total of eighteen years in both legislative chambers, Blair was unseated in the 1975 nonpartisan blanket primary, the first held in Louisiana, by then state Representative and later Alexandria Mayor Edward Gordon "Ned" Randolph, Jr. (1942-2016) Thereafter, Blair failed in comeback attempts for his former Senate seat in 1979, 1983, 1987, and 1995. While Randolph unseated Blair, in the same election, then Democrat [[Jock Scott]] won Randolph's House seat. Randolph and Scott purported to be "new" politicians not molded to failures of the past. It was the same kind of environment which a year later enabled former [[Georgia]] [[Jimmy Carter]] to win the presidency. Randolph and Scott comanaged Carter's Rapides Parish campaign in 1976.
After a total of eighteen years in both legislative chambers, Blair was unseated in the 1975 nonpartisan blanket primary, the first held in Louisiana, by then state Representative and later Alexandria Mayor Edward Gordon "Ned" Randolph, Jr. (1942-2016) Thereafter, Blair failed in comeback attempts for his former Senate seat in 1979, 1983, 1987, and 1995. While Randolph unseated Blair, in the same election, then Democrat [[Jock Scott]] won Randolph's House seat. Randolph and Scott purported to be "new" politicians not molded to failures of the past. It was the same kind of environment which a year later enabled former [[Georgia]] [[Jimmy Carter]] to win the presidency. Randolph and Scott comanaged Carter's Rapides Parish campaign in 1976.