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Louisiana [2nd] Runoff Lacks Partisan Split, But Not Intrigue
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Race
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Nov 15, 2006 07:28pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - New York Times |
| News Date | Thursday, November 16, 2006 01:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Lauren Phillips
Published: November 15, 2006
There is no mystery which party will hold Louisiana’s 2nd District in the 110th Congress, even though this year’s election will be decided in a Dec. 9 runoff under the state’s unique election system: It will be the Democrats. The two runoff candidates produced by the Nov. 7 first-round election — in which all candidates, regardless of party, ran on the same ballot — are both Democrats.
But that hardly means the matchup, between scandal-dogged eight-term incumbent William J. Jefferson and state Rep. Karen Carter, lacks serious intrigue.
The longterm loyalty Jefferson has engendered in the black-majority, New Orleans-based district netted him a first-place finish on Nov. 7, but with just 30 percent in the 13-candidate field.
And his ethics problems may make it very difficult for him to prevail in next month’s runoff. While Jefferson has not been indicted and maintains his innocence, he is the subject of a lengthy and highly publicized investigation into bribery allegations, including an FBI raid on his House office and reports of $90,000 in cash hidden in his freezer.
Carter, who rallied support from much of the state and national Democratic Party establishment that turned against Jefferson, received 22 percent to finish second in the first-round voting. She is in good position to overtake Jefferson in the runoff — if she can unite the also-ran Democratic candidates behind her, and if she can do much better outside her home political base than she did on Nov. 7. |
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