However, other Republicans wanted to run as well, including former Governor David C. Treen, who in retirement had settled in Blossman's own St. Tammany Parish. Treen, after testing the waters, never filed his papers to make the race. Two other Republicans continued in the race: (1) state Representative Huntington B. "Hunt" Downer Jr., of Houma, the seat of Terrebonne Parish, and (2) Bobby L. Jindal, an Indian-American health-care specialist then of Baton Rouge and the favorite of Governor Foster, U.S. President George W. Bush, and much of the Republican leadership. The Republican hopefuls risked dividing their party's base to such an extent that two Democrats, and no Republican candidate, might have been thrust into the general election under Louisiana's unique nonpartisan blanket primary.