WWL calls the election for Ray Nagin.

[Maddy McCall]

Right now, with 91% precincts reporting, Nagin leads with 52% to 48%.

Congratulations to Ray Nagin. :toast:

And thanks to Mitch Landrieu for running a good race. :toast:

All my best to my favorite city in the world. :loveya:

[ananda]

1. I thought Landrieu was the better choice.

I'm sorry he lost.

He's much more liberal and pro-people than the
corporatist Nagin.

Don't let skin color fool you here.

This is so sad.

Sue

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. Why Would I Have Let Skin Color Fool Me?

Never used skin color to take the measure of a man before, I'll be damned if I start now.

[New Government]

12. Because

In case you haven't noticed, race plays an important role in elections.
Around here, many were for Nagin simply because he's black. They argued the need for a black to lead New Orleans. Imagine that argument the other way around(!)

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Nagin was my emotional favorite

Beyond that, my head is with the best wishes and best interests of the people of New Orleans.

[goclark]

21. My feelings exactly

New Orleans ROCKS!
:yourock:

[napi21]

4. Good luck to Ray! I sure wouldn't want his job with

hurricane season just starting! I wish everyone in NO good luck, and may the storms go somewhere else this year!!!!

[bigtree]

5. congratulations New Orleans!

:toast:

[Hokie]

6. I have seen enough of Nagin to know he is an idiot

Hope things turn out well for New Orleans. It is one of the greatest cities in the world.

[meti57b]

7. Nagin is a hottie. I'm glad he'll be in the public eye a while longer!

[New Government]

8. Ray Nagin? SKIN COLOR decided this election!

Nothing else. No way could another mayor survive re-election after such a pitiful response to something like Katrina. It happens a lot the other way around, yes. But make no mistake: Nagin being black re-elected him in New Orleans. I wish we were past that.

[Webster Green]

11. Cities don't have the resources to handle such events

That's why there are federal agencies that are supposed to lend a hand.

Not saying he was perfect, but c'mon already!

[mtnsnake]

37. What a rotten, hypocritical thing to say. Before Katrina, Nagin was

the odds on favorite to win by a country mile. The only reason he didn't win by a country mile is because he took so much heat for his response to Katrina. The people in New Orleans used their heads. Instead of voting to punish someone for one event, the hurricane, they voted for who they thought was the best man to heal their city, PERIOD. How the fuck do you know that color of the skin decided the election? Did all the black people in New Orleans tell you that?

[KamaAina]

9. Guess I won't be waiting up for a call from Landrieu's transition team

more's the pity. Leadership has been chief among the many things in short supply down there recently.

Silver lining dept: In the at-large council race, homophobic shrew ("Traditional values make the difference" :puke: ) Jackie Clarkson is a few more precincts away from finally returning to private life. Maybe Mitch should've hitched his star to Arnie Fielkow's :eyes: And, repuke Jay Batt is trailing in his runoff, too, so we (yes, "we") may not be faced with DINO Nagin and a repuke-bent Council after all.

edit: Dark cloud dept: Mitch's political career is over. That leaves us with no levee protection against Hurricane David (Vitter) or Bobby (Jindal) overtopping Baton Rouge next year, taking the rebuilding procewss with it. :scared:

[LA lady]

13. Jindal

"That leaves us with no levee protection against Hurricane David (Vitter) or Bobby (Jindal) overtopping Baton Rouge next year, taking the rebuilding procewss with it"

Jindal has been up in North LA campaigning all month....like we can vote for him down there??? Who does he think he's fooling.

[Maddy McCall]

14. Are you in the Monroe area?

I have many relatives up there. They supported Blanco in the gubernatorial election.

[LA lady]

24. No Minden

Small town north of Shreveport. (actually out in the country but Minden's closest) He is getting big crowds.

[Maddy McCall]

25. I know where that is! I used to live in Longview!

:hi:

[Hippo_Tron]

23. Mitch's career is over for now...

I think that he'll probably be re-elected Lieutenant Governor but he's going to have to lay low for a while to try and advance from that. Maybe in a few years he'll be able to give another go for some other office because he's still pretty young. But after this, I'm pretty sure that we aren't going to be seeing him on a national ticket or anything.


Regardless, our protection from Hurricane Jindal (it will be Jindal not Vitter) is going to come in the form of Charlie Foti. Seriously if it's Foti versus Jindal I might have to stay home because Foti is just as bad as most Republicans.

But yea I'm happy that Fielkow won and REALLY happy that Midura won. I got a flyer from Jay Batt with a picture of him and the caption "Sensible Conservative" underneath and a picture of Midura with the caption "Liberal Activist" underneath it. I though to myself, hrmmm, I think I'll vote for the liberal activist. Seriously, though, always good to put another Republian out of work, even if it is just City Council.

[Maddy McCall]

10. Landrieu concedes...says "come hell or high water.."

he'll help rebuild the city.

I just love that guy. :loveya:

Asking his supporters to join with him, in supporting Nagin, to get the city back to what it was.

[WiseButAngrySara]

16. Landrieu is great! And I really just found out about him in the last

month or so. It's too bad he lost to Nagin because NOLA needs greatness right now in its leaders, and I see not even a smidgeon of that potential in Nagin. I honestly didn't know how much I wanted him over Nagin until I heard the announcement!

[Maddy McCall]

20. I agree with you...Landrieu would have been a great Mayor...

my hopes for that are dashed, and I fear that Nagin will only further cozy up to the Bush administration. :(

I just thought it right to be cordial and congratulate him, because I really could have been a shitty loser. LOL. :)

[goclark]

18. Class Act !

:loveya:

[Hippo_Tron]

15. Okay... before I get to that, here's some REALLY exciting News

In Council District A (my district), Democrat Shelly Midura unsteated Republican Jay Batt.

As for the Mayor's race, I expressed my thoughts before the election. I think that Mitch would've done a better job but I hope that I am wrong when I say that Nagin won't be able to effectively unite the city and lobby for us in congress.

[Maddy McCall]

26. Tell me more about Batt, please.

Will Nagin have a Democratic council? That's great consolation, if that's the way it is!

:hi:

[Hippo_Tron]

27. Batt was the only Repuke on the city council

Most of the 527 money that went against him were from people that didn't like his uber pro-development stances. Personally I'm mixed on that issue. I'm for development and bringing more businesses into this city, but at the same time, I don't want Wal-Marts and chain restaurants all over the place.

Batt is a big backer of the national puke party and a chimp backer. He called his opponent a "Liberal Activist" in a campaign flyer that he mailed out. I can't stand anybody that uses liberal as a bad word for campaign purposes. These are the main reasons that I voted for Midura.

Nagin was going to have a democratic council no matter what because with the exception of Batt's district (which is mostly white upper-middle class), Republicans can't really get elected to office in New Orleans. But the question was really whether we would have a DINO council or a council with real Dems and ones that aren't corrupt and with the incumbents that we've unseated tonight, it looks like we will have an improved city council. I only wish that we could've sealed the deal and elected Mitch.

Anyway, the bottom line is that we tossed a Bush loving Repuke out of office and even if it's only city council, I think that's always a good thing. Perhaps it's also an early indication of how Bush's supporters might be leaving him.

[Maddy McCall]

28. Ok--that's something to be REALLY happy about!

Thanks for explaining it to me.

I don't want to see NOLA overdeveloped either...it needs to retain some of its distinctive flavor--and that won't happen if it becomes infested with Walmarts, Lowes,Targets, and car dealerships.

I'm hopeful that low-income housing can be built so that that sector of the city's residents can return.

Thanks for explaining all of this to me!

:hi:

[Hippo_Tron]

31. No problem, I gave this its own thread in GD politics

Because I think that DU would be happy to know about this victory. Also, I think that we could use something to help with the fighting over the mayor's race.

And yea, as far as low income housing I totally agree. Personally I think that we need to build mixed income neighborhoods because time and agian we've shown that developing low income housing by itself is just a breed ground for crime and other problems. Again, I think that Mitch would've been much more effective in getting the money for this, but I hope that Nagin will be able to do this too.

An overdeveloped New Orleans is something that I also fear. I would like to keep all of the Wal-Marts, Lowes, Targets, etc. out in Jefferson Parish but at the same time I understand that because of high gas prices now that people might not be able to afford to drive all the way out there on a regular basis. I suppose that we will have to find a sensible middle ground and I think that with a solid democratic council to oppose Nagin's very pro development stances, we will achieve that middle ground.

[Maddy McCall]

32. Not to change topics...

but is Acme off of Bourbon back open? There was a guy who always waited on us--he worked behind the oyster bar--and I've thought about him every day since the hurricane.

I'm probably going to visit NOLA soon...and Acme, to check on my guy. :D

[Hippo_Tron]

33. Honestly, I have no clue

I rarely visit the French Quarter and I haven't done so since Katrina. I would go down there more, but I can't stand the horrible lack of parking. You might google and see what you can find.

[LouisianaLiberal]

29. HEY!!! That's great!!!!

Even though I no longer live in NO, I knew both Batt and Mitch as a teen. That Batt is a repub, and trashed Midura, doesn't surprise me. And Mitch was a good guy even then.

Thanks. I am very glad Batt is out.

[goclark]

36. Smart voters to unseat Batt

good news

[goclark]

17. Great speech!

Yea!!!!!!

He even thanked Bush but he did it smoothly IMO!

[Maddy McCall]

19. I turned off the TV.

Too sad to watch any more. When he mentioned the levees, that was enough for me. :(

[New Government]

22. He SHOULD thank Bush

Bushco took all the heat! While it was mishandled by the feds, it wasn't handled at all by the local government (unless you call chaos 'handling' something). That Ray Nagin was re-elected after Katrina gives me even less hope for this country and the judgment of people going to the polls. How could anyone think that man deserves re-election? Well, it's like I said already in another post, skin color won the election. Period. How more blatant of an example can there be?

edit to add italics

[KitchenWitch]

30. Congratulations to New Orleans!

:toast:

[Rowdyboy]

34. The city has spoken....our thoughts are interesting but irrelevent....

Congratulations, Nawlins! You're doing fine!

And I join you in saluting both candidates for running classy campaigns. I'm impressed!

[goclark]

35. I'm with you~ the CITIZENS of NO have spoken

And for sure DIEBOLD was not in the fix because the results would sure be different.

With all the outside money pouring in to the other candidates

With all the people that ran that were NOT on the front lines for Katrina

With the African American victims families of Katrina spread out all over the country

With Nagin taking the heat from THEM during the heat of Katrina

He still was able to gain their votes and the votes of enough others that want to fight for their city.


Whatever he did for them was worth their efforts to vote for him..

Congratulations to Nagin and for those that truly want to rebuild N O, let's get it on.

NO,:yourock:

[New Government]

38. Uh....

With the African American victims families of Katrina spread out all over the country

The victims of Hurricane Katrina spread all over the country are black AND WHITE.

How could you defend a man who said something as racist as he wanted a "Chocolate City?" Would you defend a white politician who said he wanted Minneapolis to be a Marshmallow City?

Now, an apparently overwhelming number of black voters returned this racist to office. What does that say about those who voted for him? What would it say if it was the other way around? We would all be having a shit fit about the racism --- and we all know it.