Its been a beautiful day here in District A New Orleans. The sun is shining. Spring is in the air. Plum Street snowballs opened up for the season -- yum! And best of all, Susan Guidry won the City Council race. With 62% of the vote!

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Mayor: Yay, Mitch Landrieu won in the first round. No need for a run off, unusual in New Orleans. I smile at seeing that although John Georges spent far more than anyone else in the race (possibly more than everyone else in the race) he won only 9% of the vote; nice to know that it isn't always all about the money. On the other hand, James Perry was smart on all the issues and impressive in the debates, but never really generated campaign traction outside of the digirati. I hope New Orleans will be seeing Perry's name on ballots again in a few years. (&/or: Hey Mitch: How about hiring Perry for your staff?)

City Council: Fielkow also got in on the first round. Other at large seat will be a run off between Clarkson and Willard-Lewis. [Update: Final results show Clarkson just squeeking in to a first round victory.]

In District A, Susan Guidry and Jay Batt will face a run off, which I sorta expected (though I didn't totally count out Virginia Blanque). What I didn't except was that Guidry came in a strong first despite Batt's much higher name recognition and better funding. That doesn't look good for Batt in the run off; knowing Batt expect much mud to be slung and likely shenanagins. RightHandTheif: Guidry for Council

Froggy's first endorsement for the run off: Susan Guidry for District A

Less good news in the race for the new post of combined assessor. The most dedicated reform candidate Janice Lemle didn't make it into the run off. Erroll Williams will face Claude Mauberret in the run off. Froggy's second endorsement: Erroll Williams for assessor. Williams has been 3rd Municipal Assessor; if uninspiring he's a much better choice than Mauberret who has proven himself to be a real sleaze.

As early voting is starting, my first endorsements:


* Mayor: Mitch Landrieu -or- James Perry. Two excellent choices, head and sholders above the other candidates.

* City Council at large: Arnie Fielkow.

City Council District A: Anybody but Batt. Specifically Susan Guidry or Virginia Blanque.

And a good suggestion from Louis Maistros: "Never vote for a candidate who's name is plastered all over the city's blighted houses."

WDSU page with link to 4 part interview with the 3 candidates challenging Bill Jefferson

They come across as 3 nice guys, not Congressional material.


Good luck.

Sorry, Ralph! Sorry, Bob! Infrogmation's endorsement for the 2008 US Presidential election goes to Barack Obama.


For a thoughtful non-soundbite analysis, I think The New Yorker's Endorsement of Obama is pretty good.

A couple more points from my personal perspective:

* The Supreme Court. 7 of the 9 justices now on the US Supreme Court are Republican appointees. Dubya Bush has pushed the court so far to the NeoCon Right that some of the appointees of earlier Republican administrations are now being called "moderates". McCain has promised more of the same. We need a Democratic president now just to hold on to such balance as we have.

* BushCo = Miserable Failure. Those who advocate more of the same have no standing to be listened to seriously. The Dubya Bush administration has been string of disasters for America. For those who voted for Bush, especially for those who voted for him twice, I reccomend taking a hard and critical look at who or what persuaded you to do so. What commentators/websites/writers/tv stations told you that electing Bush was a good idea? I think in retrospect it is clear that those who advocated Bush and his cronies to lead the nation in 2000 did not have very good judgement. The judgement of those who reccomended his reelection in 2004 I cannot assess more politely than lousy. Now in 2008? Those who have admitted they made a mistake and wish to discuss what they learned from their past error may have some interesting things to say. But anyone who stuck with BushCo for the duration, and now advocates keeping the same party in the same office, has no remaining credibility on the subject of presidential politics. Reasonable Americans don't need to waste their time reading or listening to anyone with such an abysmal track record.

Okay a year ago, who would have believed that the Republicans would socialize the banks, and the Republican candidate would accuse the Democrat of being like Herbert Hoover. What?

Also, if John McCain wins, he will appoint Joe the Plumber to the Supreme Court and give him a gold plated Cadillac.


[edit]

"The real winner last night was Joe the Plumber!” -- John McCain

So, then: McCain managed to come in third in a 2 person debate.

Yes, please, more of the same. Please, $ Bill, don't get into the runoff.

By this time next month, will things have gotten so bad both Obama and McCain will be deliberately trying to lose?

20 years ago was the "Black Monday" stock market crash of 1987.

I happened to be in Washington, D.C. visiting an aunt. Taking the subway downtown the next morning, I saw men in expensive suits buying bottles of liquor on their way to work. Possibly that was their usual routine, but I doubted it.

I went to the bank and withdrew cash. I was surprised there was no substantial line. I thought bank runs were supposed to be the usual procedure in such circumstances.

I was a bit frustrated to be away from New Orleans on vacation when this happened, as for some time I'd had a contingency radio show planned to do in case of stock market crash, with tunes from the '29 crash. "Damn, I'm missing my chance."

And President Reagan's words of reassurance were almost the same as Herbert Hoover's. I thought, Don't they keep an index card in a drawer in the desk at the Oval Office, marked "In case of stock market crash, DON'T SAY THIS:"...

Were a few friends of mine and I the only ones who remembered history? A few days later my friends and I talked it over. One said that the Republicans bring a boom, then a bust. I cracked wise "Y'know why people aren't jumping out of windows on Wall Street this time? In modern skyscrapers you can't open the windows." A friend noted some recent murders in the news, which to him showed that investors were a hair smarter this time, since instead of killing themselves, they were killing their brokers.

----

Unlike '29, things bounced back fairly quickly then. Now the $ is below the Euro and falling rapidly -- anyone got "Whip Inflation Now" buttons left over from the Ford administration? I'm sure they'll work just as well now as they did then.

Here in Lou'ziana, we're voting on a pile of stuff tomorrow. We'll see if Eddie Haskell becomes our next governor in the first round, or if he'll have to go to a run off with either John Goodman, Matlock, or Mr. Spock with Stephen Colbert's face. (Eddie Haskell is running under the name "Bobby Jindal" as the Republican Whiz Kid. Is there anywhere outside of the Republican Party in Louisiana and maybe Mississippi where someone who has sycophantically supported everything the Bush adminstration has bungled and advocated teaching Creationism is talked about as supposedly being "very smart"?)

In sadly low turnout, Dollar Bill Jefferson won the runoff for the 2nd Congressional District. The tipping point may well have been Sherrif Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish's denunciation of Carter as payback for her daring to be critical of how things were handled on the CCC Bridge after Katrina.

The story behind the story, however, is the post-K demographic shift of the district. New Orleans used to be the key population center. $ Bill lost in the city. He won big in West Jeff. So if this election is an indication, the suburbs are now the big dog in the 2nd District.

In better news for Louisiana, Congress passed the Gulf Oil bill, giving Louisiana part of the revenue from off shore oil drilling off its coast. Money will go to coastal restoration and flood control.