http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1165479747162360.xml&coll=1With his 28-year-political career on the line in Saturday's runoff, Rep. William Jefferson is spending this week urging voters to look beyond the 21-month corruption investigation he says has unfairly dominated campaign news coverage and allowed his opponent to escape scrutiny.
State Rep. Karen Carter, D-New Orleans, meanwhile, wrapped up Wednesday with a late-afternoon rally during which she again hammered home the message that Jefferson can't be effective given the taint of the corruption investigation and the loss of his seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Carter, who has raised more campaign money than the eight-term incumbent, spent much of the day meeting with contributors, preparing for a scheduled debate Friday and giving a pep talk to volunteers at her campaign headquarters. She also collected an endorsement from the New Orleans chapter of the Sierra Club....
Carter and Jefferson will face off in a debate on WWL television Friday at 8 p.m., a match-up rescheduled from Thursday. That prompted yet another squabble between the candidates, with Jefferson contending he couldn't come back to the city because of business in Washington and Carter insisting on a face-to-face debate rather than a video hookup....
He told WWL that he could not give an explanation on why the FBI found $90,000 in his freezer because it could jeopardize his legal defense. Even the smallest "misstatement," Jefferson said, could be used against him by prosecutors, if they indict him.Guess that depends on what the meaning of the word "bribe" is, eh, Dollar Bill? (Disclaimer: I worked for one of his original opponents back when the seat was last open in 1990.)
I was just wondering "where y'at", funk! I'm roughing out plans to visit the city, at long last, shortly after the first of the year, and am trying to collect DUers, bloggers, the few people I'm still in touch with from the old days, and so forth, to catch up with when I do.