Word: jefferson
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...Throughout the campaign, Jefferson denied any wrongdoing. But he never offered an explanation for the $90,000 in marked bills federal agents confiscated from a freezer in his Washington D.C.-area home, only promising, when pressed, an "honorable explanation" in due time...
...This "whole thing" is the investigation, which many believe will net an indictment for Jefferson. If he is forced out of Congress before his term ends, Louisiana's governor could call for a special election to fill the seat. And as far-fetched as it sounds, many pundits say the possibility of an indictment was one of the reasons some people voted for the incumbent. As in this year's mayoral race, antipathy to the challenger was strong enough to prompt conservatives who would normally oppose Jefferson to vote for him, with the idea that it would be harder...
...Jefferson played up those differences during the campaign, tacking to the right and touting the support of many New Orleans area African- American ministers, who are key in the city's get-out-the-vote drives. And he benefited from a late-in-the-game outburst from Harry Lee, the controversial sheriff of neighboring Jefferson Parish, much of which falls within the congressional district. Lee, incensed by Carter's appearance in the Spike Lee documentary When the Levees Broke, in which she took Jefferson Parish officials to task for turning back pedestrians trying to escape New Orleans via a bridge...
...Most important, perhaps, is race, a factor in any New Orleans campaign, particularly post-Katrina. Although both Jefferson and Carter are African American, Carter, who had the backing of the state's Democratic establishment as well as the city's business community, was seen as the candidate of choice for the wealthy and the white - a perception that works against candidates in a city where thousands of displaced, mostly poor black residents are still struggling to get back in their homes. Here, too, Jefferson was able to turn his legal troubles to his advantage; for thousands of people who feel...
...also easy for many to see a champion in Jefferson, who rose from a poor North Louisiana upbringing to become a Harvard-trained lawyer and the first African American to represent Louisiana in Washington since Reconstruction. The question now is, will he still be able to deliver the goods...