The City of New Orleans

I haven't been in New Orleans in a long time. The last time I was there was many years before Hurricane Katrina flooded the city and officially — and, apparently, irretrievably — turned public opinion against George W. Bush.

When I was there, the emphasis was on good food, good drinks and fun (good or otherwise). Live jazz was playing in the French Quarter, French–style beignets with powdered sugar and chicory–laced coffee were being consumed with reckless abandon every morning at Café du Monde, and New Orleans generally lived up to its nickname, "The City that Care Forgot."

But New Orleans — and the rest of Louisiana — couldn't hide away from care forever. After Katrina, the national spotlight seemed to shine ever brighter on the Big Easy.

Judging from the home page of the New Orleans Times–Picayune this morning, things haven't changed that much, though. There is still an emphasis on good food, good music and good times. At this time of year, "good times" means football, and two of the NFL's unbeaten teams, the New Orleans Saints and the New York Giants, will square off Sunday afternoon in the Superdome that once housed — temporarily — Katrina's refugees.

Barack Obama probably could have picked a worse time to make his first presidential visit to New Orleans. Granted, his pledge to rebuild New Orleans stronger than before is one that should have been made — and kept — on the federal level four years ago. But that wasn't Obama's fault. He was barely in the U.S. Senate at that time.

As much as Obama and his supporters may have wanted to believe his election nearly a year ago demonstrated that America was a "post–racial" society, events this year have shown it is not true. Both sides have been culpable to a degree. Some — but not all — of Obama's critics have injected race into the conversation, and some — but not all — of his supporters have been far too willing to point the finger and accuse critics of racism — to the detriment of arguments on both sides.

Neither the right nor the left seems to be truly at fault for an issue that has emerged recently in Tangipahoa Parish, just north of New Orleans. But that hasn't kept either from taking sides.

Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell refused to marry an interracial couple. "I'm not a racist," he claimed. "I just don't believe in mixing the races that way."

He said he was concerned about the children that could be produced from such a union and, for that reason, he has declined to marry about four interracial couples in his career as a justice of the peace.

Now the ACLU of Louisiana is attempting to have Bardwell removed from office.

I'm not an authority on the law, but it does seem to me that, since the Supreme Court's ruling in the 1967 Loving v. Virginia case, marriage restrictions based on race have been illegal in the United States. Consequently, a public official who has the authority to marry couples and refuses to do so because the couple in question is interracial is in violation of the law.

But I grew up in the South. And, while laws have changed, it does not surprise me that attitudes have not — at least not to the extent that many people seem to have presumed.

What does surprise me, I guess, is how surprised others are by this. Last night, on Facebook, the pastor of my church pondered this development and asked, rhetorically, "It's 2009, not 1959, right?" Many people — too many to count — chimed in indignantly.

My knee–jerk reaction was that many of those people must not have grown up in the South — and then I remembered that my pastor did grow up here in Texas. But he, like many people, seems to have fallen under the spell of the post–racialists.

Be that as it may, it doesn't change the fact that a public official who refuses to marry an interracial couple is violating the law. As a public official, his personal opinions do not matter — even if he believes his motivation — the well–being of any as–yet unborn children — is noble.

(If his only concern is the children, has anyone asked him if he has performed marriage ceremonies for interracial couples who are past their child–bearing years?)

The left gets particularly agitated about racial implications, but the liberal lion, the late Ted Kennedy, seems to have understood that racism in America did not disappear because Obama was elected president.

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"Ted Kennedy believes that race in America is, as he sometimes puts it, 'a–burning,' by which he means that it bubbles just below the surface of the American psyche and it takes little to bring it out."

Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson
The Battle for America 2008

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I don't know how long it will take for those on the left to recognize that the election of the first black president didn't eliminate race as a factor in American life. It merely turned up the heat and it has bubbled past the surface in Obama's first year in office.

The real test of how much progress America has made in race relations was not — contrary to popular opinion — the election of the first black president. The real test will be whether, three years from now, Americans decide to re–elect him, knowing it will mean four more years of focusing on racial issues — often at the expense of issues that affect Americans of all races.

Republicans Win Races in Louisiana

I'm not sure what to think of the House elections yesterday in Louisiana.

Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao unseated Rep. William Jefferson in the 2nd District.

The 2nd District has a history of being represented by a Democrat. Jefferson was first elected to his House seat in 1990.

When he takes office next month, Cao will become the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. He fled Vietnam with his family when he was a child.

It was a narrow win — less than 2,000 votes separated the two candidates.

And it's possible, as the New Orleans Times-Picayune observes, that, if the two House races had not been postponed by one month by Hurricane Gustav, Jefferson could have survived if the district had elected its representative on Nov. 4, when greater numbers of blacks were drawn to the polls by Barack Obama's candidacy.

The other district, the 4th District, has a history of being represented by a Republican, but Rep. Jim McCrery, who held the seat for 20 years, chose to retire. A Republican, John Fleming, was elected to replace him.

Thus, as the Times-Picayune points out, "Louisiana bucked the national trend and wound up with a congressional delegation of six Republicans and a single Democrat. Three Democrats represent Louisiana in the current Congress."

There are two unresolved House races left — in Ohio and Virginia. The results in Louisiana give Democrats an advantage of 255-178.

And there's one unresolved Senate race — in Minnesota. At the moment, Democrats hold 56 seats and two seats are held by independents who caucus with them. Republicans hold 41 seats.

This Should Really Be the Final Election of 2008

Two congressional districts in Louisiana are holding elections today. They are holding these elections now because the process was delayed by Hurricane Gustav.

Notorious Rep. William Jefferson is running for re-election — and appears to be the favorite — in the 2nd District. The race in the 4th District is to replace the retiring incumbent. The district leans Republican. So a split appears possible. In fact, it appears likely.

At the moment, Democrats hold a 255-176 advantage in the House. Two other races remain unresolved. The Republican candidate in Virginia's 5th District wants a recount, and the race in Ohio's 15th District appears to be headed for court.

Once those four House races — and the still-unresolved Senate race in Minnesota — are settled, the new Congress will be ready to begin its work.

The Making of a House Race 2008

The Lafayette (La.) Advertiser reports that a race for the House seat in Louisiana's 7th District is starting to take shape.

The district is in the southwestern corner of the state, including within its boundaries the cities of Lafayette and Lake Charles. If you've never been there, it's Cajun country — food, language, clothing, music, everything.

Its political history has been varied. Nationally, the district has supported the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1972. It is currently represented in the House by a Republican, Charles Boustany, who was elected four years ago.

In fact, Boustany was in his first year in the House when Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf Coast region — although it was actually Hurricane Rita a few weeks later that had the more devastating, long-term impact on the area.

Katrina was more correctly New Orleans' disaster, and many people in the 7th District bitterly complained that "Rita amnesia" deprived the area of help it needed while New Orleans was the focus of national attention, if not the actual recipient of necessary assistance, for its hurricane experience.

Prior to Boustany's election in 2004, the district was represented by Democrats, Chris John (1997-2005) and Jimmy Hayes (1987-1997). And before that, future Senator John Breaux represented the district.

Boustany, who was a practicing surgeon for more than 20 years, won the seat when it was open in 2004, becoming the first Republican to represent that part of the state since the 19th century. John, the incumbent, was one of several politicians who decided to seek Breaux's open Senate seat in the state's unique open primary.

(John finished second, but he received only 29% of the vote. Republican David Vitter received 51% of the vote against a divided Democratic field and avoided a campaign-extending runoff.

(Last summer, it was revealed that Vitter's phone number appeared on the "D.C. Madam's" call list. The "D.C. Madam" committed suicide in May, and it remains to be seen whether that relationship will affect Vitter's chances of re-election in 2010.)

Meanwhile, back in the 7th District ...

The Advertiser reports that political observers expect state Sen. Don Cravins Jr. to challenge Boustany. Cravins' father sought the seat in 2004 and was narrowly edged out for a runoff spot against Boustany. At the time, Cravins' father felt he had been snubbed by the national Democratic Party.

Cravins is black and might benefit from a large turnout of blacks motivated to vote for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, the Advertiser says, but "he's not MoveOn.org material. His family made its name in business."

Moreover, "Boustany will not go gently," the Advertiser says. "The 7th is, fundamentally, a conservative district, in both senses of the word. The district has changed from Democratic to Republican over the years, but voters haven't turned out an incumbent in more than a generation."

And the Advertiser cautions about something else. "While Boustany's early association with the Bush administration might hurt him elsewhere, Bush-bashing never really caught on around here."

Again, the national tickets could have an as-yet unseen influence on the congressional race farther down the ballot — particularly if Louisiana's Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal is John McCain's running mate.

This election year is shaping up to be a volatile one in Louisiana. So far, Larry Sabato is focusing his attention on two other House races in Louisiana, but it's possible that the 7th District will be added to the list as time goes by.

It's a district worth keeping an eye on.

Assessing the Senate Races

If you're looking for insightful analyses on the races for the presidency, the Senate and the House, you can't go wrong if you consult Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Today, he's provided us with an update on the races for the Senate.

Party control of the Senate, he observes, has changed hands six times since 1980. "This is no longer a rare event."

Sabato has come to the conclusion that "2008 is virtually certain not to generate a seventh such shift."

As I've mentioned before, a big part of the reason is that these senators were elected in 2002. It was the midterm of George W. Bush's first term as president. Normally, midterms go against the party that occupies the White House, but the country was only a year removed from the 9-11 attacks and Bush was pressing for the authority to go to war in Iraq.

So the Republicans won a lot of seats in the Senate. And, as a result, they have twice as many seats to defend as the Democrats do in this election cycle -- when gas prices have risen about 36% in a year, the war is unpopular, and Bush is a lame duck.

All the Democrats are seeking re-election and only one, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, appears to be in a close race. Most observers, Sabato included, believe Democrats will retain at least 11 of their 12 seats.

The Republicans have to defend more than 20 seats, and a handful of their senators are retiring (including Larry Craig of Idaho, Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska).

Due to the death of one senator and the retirement of another who was not scheduled to be up for re-election this year, Republicans have to defend two more seats -- in Wyoming and Mississippi, where the voters will be electing two senators at the same time.

Sabato says Wyoming Republicans should be able to hold both their seats, but the seat formerly held by Trent Lott in Mississippi is currently a tossup.

In Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour appointed Rep. Roger Wicker to succeed Lott. Sabato says Wicker has a "50-50 chance" of holding the seat for the Republicans in November.

In assessing the 11 most competitive Senate races this year, Sabato concludes that Democrats will pick up four seats and two seats currently held by Republicans are tossups (Alaska and Lott's old seat in Mississippi). Thus, a six-seat gain is possible for the Democrats.

In Alaska, longtime Sen. Ted Stevens "is mired in a major corporate scandal involving pay-offs and bribery," writes Sabato. But "[h]e has not been indicted and may be able to clear himself."

And, as Sabato observes, "it is too early to call any November election for an Alaska Democrat."

None of the Democratic seats are currently likely to shift to the Republicans, according to Sabato, not even Landrieu's seat.

Louisiana lost a lot of Democratic votes when a large number of blacks had to leave New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Sabato points out, but he concludes that the state is leaning to Landrieu. "This might be a tight race in the end, but it isn't starting that way."

It's not all bad news for Republicans, according to Sabato. They might not be picking up any seats, but there are a few they may be likely to hold, even if it turns out to be a Democratic year.

In Minnesota, the home of Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman "is beatable," Sabato writes, "but it is uncertain whether the new convention-crowned Democratic nominee, comedian Al Franken, can do it.

"Franken has been found to have had a substantial number of overdue tax bills in various states, and some of his off-color satires from past years have not sold well in this more politically correct era."

Franken might still have a struggle on his hands if former Gov. Jesse Ventura opts to run as an independent -- a move he's been mulling lately.

Ventura won't win the Senate seat, Sabato says, "but he's the ultimate wild card."

Presidential Debates -- the 2008 Schedule

The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced the lineup and format for the 2008 presidential debates -- once the Democrats and Republicans have settled on their tickets.

The first debate will be held in about 10 months, on Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss.

Other sites for the debates include Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008; Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008; and Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008.

St. Louis will host the vice presidential debate. The other cities will host the second and third presidential debates.

Noteworthy for its omission is New Orleans, which has hosted conventions since being devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but was rejected as a presidential debate site because it hasn't sufficiently recovered from the storm and the flooding.

Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who is expected to face a tough fight for re-election next year, says the commission has “lost sight of the public interest it was chartered to serve.”

Landrieu, of course, is free to say and believe what she wants about how New Orleans was "slighted" in the selection of debate sites, but I can see both sides.

Democratic co-chairman Paul Kirk reportedly claimed the city wasn't ready to host a high-profile event like one of the debates, and Republican co-chairman Frank Fahrenkopf reportedly said sites were selected based on technical factors and geographical balance and that politics played little or no role.

But, in the words of Forrest Gump, I think both are going on at the same time.

(Besides, the "geographical balance" bit doesn't really hold up for me. St. Louis, Nashville and Oxford, Miss., are from generally the same part of the country, and St. Louis is the only one [but just barely] that is west of the Mississippi River. Those three cities are even in the same time zone. Only Hempstead, N.Y., is in the Eastern time zone.)

Fahrenkopf is wrong if he thinks politics didn't influence the decision. Politics influences everything.

On the other hand, everyone saw how New Orleans was hammered by the hurricane, and we all know how difficult it has been for the city to bounce back. It's plausible to believe that it isn't ready to provide food and lodging for the thousands of people who come to a city hosting a debate. Including the candidates and the Secret Service agents who are assigned to them.

So, if the commission was simply latching on to a convenient excuse not to select New Orleans, it has one that is practically bullet-proof.

It would be nice to hold a debate in New Orleans. It reminds me of the talk six years ago of holding the next Super Bowl in New York in support of that city following the 9-11 attacks.

In both instances, the suggestions represent a desire for supportive gestures that are or were easier to achieve as abstract recommendations. In reality, there are too many obstacles.

For example, playing the Super Bowl in the Meadowlands in February 2002 would have meant traffic and a large crowd at an outdoor arena on what may have been a cold, possibly snowy, evening -- which would have made great TV but would have been a logistical nightmare for a city still on edge after the collapse of the Twin Towers less than five months earlier.

The presidential and vice presidential nominees won't be debating in New Orleans, but both parties need to define what the federal role will be in New Orleans in the next administration.

A country that is willing to spend $1 billion a week to capture, then lose, then re-capture, then re-lose much of the same territory in Iraq over and over and over again should be willing to invest money and manpower into rebuilding a city that has been made to suffer for more than two years.

And hopefully allow many of its displaced citizens to return.

That's the battle Landrieu needs to fight in defense of her Senate seat.

A 'Fresh Start' for Louisiana?

Bobby Jindal, a Republican member of the House, was elected governor of Louisiana Saturday. Jindal will be the nation's youngest governor and the first nonwhite since Reconstruction to hold the post in Louisiana.

Jindal is an Indian-American -- as in native of India.

Under Louisiana's open primary system, if none of the candidates received a majority of the vote, a runoff would have been necessary in November. But Jindal prevailed over 11 opponents with 53% of the vote and was elected outright to succeed Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who was criticized for the state's response to Hurricane Katrina two years ago and decided not to seek re-election.

Blanco defeated Jindal in the governor's race four years ago.

Despite beautiful weather on Saturday, voter turnout in the governor's race was down by 100,000, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. That may be a lingering effect of Hurricane Katrina. About half of the decline in participation came in New Orleans, where more than 120,000 voted in the 2003 governor's race, but just under 76,000 people participated Saturday.

Jindal promised a "fresh start" in his speech to supporters Saturday night.

And Captain's Quarters thinks Jindal may be starting a long, successful political run that could extend beyond Louisiana's borders.

But the Louisiana governor's mansion seems to have been a magnet for corruption and abuse of power for decades.

It remains to be seen if Jindal can reverse that trend.