New Orleans Mayoral Election 2006

[Flying Dog]

WWL-TV is calling the mayor’s race. Mayor Ray Nagin and Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu are going to be in the runoff. It’s an open question whether or not Couhig’s and Forman’s numbers combined would have made a difference.

[Sarnstrom]

Nagin is doing very well, he might even make it to 40% tonight.

[??????????]

Nagin is doing very well, he might even make it to 40% tonight.

That's something to be proud of! They should have left that dump underwater.

[WalterMitty]

i watched the debate on msnbc.  there was one guy, a republican, who actually made some sense.  i cant remember his name.  of course, im sure he will only get 4 or 5 votes and the great city of new orleans will be stuck with some incompetent.

and let me add, mary's brother mitch is an idiot.  he should be teaching p.e. to an 8th grade class.  heck, i even think nagin is smarter than him...and that isnt a good sign.

[Democratic Hawk]

Lets just say I hope Forman's and Couhig's votes break for Landrieu in the run-off. Nagin can have the stragglers

One Democratic candidate, Roderick Dean, got 16 votes, which is one more than I've received thus far in Fantasy D4 Senate race . How many nominations did this guy need to get on the ballot?

Dave

[Ben.]

I would imagine that Landrieu should pick up the bulk of the other votes, what’s more I think that Nagin's base (which ironically seems to be the city's black community) wont turn out as strongly on the second ballot... so with any luck, and baring a disaster, Landrieu should pull out a win.

If Nagin wins, then we might as well give the delta back to the gulf  

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Why does everyone hate Mayor Nagin so much?  Its Blanco that deserves the blame for Louisiana's poor response.  I'd certainly support Nagin over Landrieu.

[Ben.]

Why does everyone hate Mayor Nagin so much?  Its Blanco that deserves the blame for Louisiana's poor response.  I'd certainly support Nagin over Landrieu.

I’ve never understood your affection for Nagin Don, tell me it isn’t because he started out as a pretty moderate, pro-business Republican?

In all fairness, Blanco fouled up, Brown/FEMA fouled up, Bush (to a much lesser extent) fouled up but so did Nagin…. It was always the actions of Nagin which not only frustrated the efforts (such as they where) of FEMA and the State Authorities but also actively did wrong, not effectively evacuating the city, not preparing for the thousands who sought shelter in the super dome and allowing hundreds of city owned school buses to rust as the waters rose instead of ferrying people out of the city.

Finally since the disaster Nagin’s response has been a mix of blaming everyone but himself and playing the race card to win the support of the very community he never enjoyed an especially strong endorsement from… Nagin’s tenure increasingly seems to lack any drive or imagination beyond “what’s good for Ray Nagin”.

In contrast Landrieu could conceivably have held the post of Lt.Gov in ’07 and could certainly have contested higher offices from there, instead it seems he was drive to abandon the office when his home city suffered the catastrophe of Katrina – in contrast to Nagin’s race based, populist campaign, Landirieu has the solid support of the city’s business community as well as boasting a far more diverse base of support than that of Nagin.

As things stand I think it most likely that Landrieu will hoover-up most of the white and conservative vote that has been largely split, what he must succeed in doing is preventing Nagin from scoring a significant lead amongst Black voters.   

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Now here's an interesting little question; why do you all think that so many people (in a multi-candidate race close to 40% is pretty good) voted for Nagin?
Here's a little clue; what (basically) sparked off the bizarre "chocolate city" remark?

[Ben.]

Now here's an interesting little question; why do you all think that so many people (in a multi-candidate race close to 40% is pretty good) voted for Nagin?
Here's a little clue; what (basically) sparked off the bizarre "chocolate city" remark?

Nagin's playing the race card? pretty odd considering his background... but that how you fight for your political life i guess.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Nagin's playing the race card?

Put simply; a lot of people in New Orleans think that the likes of Landrieu want to turn New Orleans into a lily white city. I've not really seen any proposals or plans for New Orleans, so I've no idea how true that fear is or isn't.

[Flying Dog]

My prediction:

Landrieu 53%
Nagin 47%

[Storebought]

Don't any of you think it odd that a city whose current population barely scrapes 200,000 had 100000+ ballots cast in this election? People were driven from Georgia and Texas to cast ballots in a city some 500+ miles away. A few others who couldn't handle the rigors of a road trip didn't vote merely vote absentee ... they voted by fax machine.

All this initiative from a city government who couldn't be bothered to evacuate residents from a city lying below sea level before a Catagory 4 hurricane.

If this election is any indication of Louisiana's upcoming gubernatorial race, Blanco will win reelection against Jindal by a 5+ % margin.

[The Duke]

[Speed of Sound]

I a little disappointed in how this played out. I was kinda hoping Nagin would break the 40% the round one, but I suppose Im moderately happy with 38%.

[Max Power]

I a little disappointed in how this played out. I was kinda hoping Nagin would break the 40% the round one, but I suppose Im moderately happy with 38%.

Won't you love to have a "chocolate New Orleans"?

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

I a little disappointed in how this played out. I was kinda hoping Nagin would break the 40% the round one, but I suppose Im moderately happy with 38%.

Won't you love to have a "chocolate New Orleans"?

Water and chocolate don't mix.

[Gabu]

Yes, let's reunite our city by insinuating that white people don't belong in New Orleans.

[Hatman 🍁]

You guys do know that by chocolate he meant Whites and Blacks. White being the milk, and black being the cocoa. At least that's what he said.

[Gabu]

You guys do know that by chocolate he meant Whites and Blacks. White being the milk, and black being the cocoa. At least that's what he said.

That was what he said after the fact.  This is what he said initially:

"I don't care what people are saying Uptown [where most of the white people live] or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day.  This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be."

[Flying Dog]

What is wrong with you people? How many other crack-pot nagin supporters are there?

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Why does everyone hate Mayor Nagin so much?  Its Blanco that deserves the blame for Louisiana's poor response.  I'd certainly support Nagin over Landrieu.

He was never a Republican, Don.

He was a registered Republican up until the time when he ran for Mayor in 2001.  He also gave a $1,000 contribution to Bush's '00 campaign and endorsed Bobby Jindal in '03.  He claimed to never have been a Republican in a Tavis Smiley interview but a number of news reports contradict that claim.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

He was a registered Republican up until the time when he ran for Mayor in 2001.  He also gave a $1,000 contribution to Bush's '00 campaign and endorsed Bobby Jindal in '03.  He claimed to never have been a Republican in a Tavis Smiley interview but a number of news reports contradict that claim.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/25/AR2005102501627.html

Read the very top. Thanks for at the very least proving he is an opportunist.

This correction could have been a result of him trying to make that clarifaction, which is not necessarily true.  In any case, he has shown conservative tendencies which at the very least warrant some level of loyalty.  Mitch Landrieu has always been a Dem, endorsed incompetent Blanco, and has never given any money to President Bush.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

He was a registered Republican up until the time when he ran for Mayor in 2001.  He also gave a $1,000 contribution to Bush's '00 campaign and endorsed Bobby Jindal in '03.  He claimed to never have been a Republican in a Tavis Smiley interview but a number of news reports contradict that claim.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/25/AR2005102501627.html

Read the very top. Thanks for at the very least proving he is an opportunist.

Opportunist?  He gave money and endorsed the best candidates for those offices.  That's called principle, not opportunism.

[Jake]

Do you actually believe Nagin is the best candidate? Or do you just enjoy supporting trash for public office?