Word: jeffersons
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...Still, Jefferson has never faced anything quite like what he's up against this go-round. Katrina scrambled the district's demographics, reducing the African-American majority that would presumably work in Jefferson's favor. And he's also facing opposition from within his own party: Democrats hope to blast their way to a majority this fall by tagging Republicans as cultivators of a "culture of corruption" with some high-profile cases, including former representatives Tom DeLay of Texas, Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California and sex-scandal plagued Mark Foley of Florida to use as fodder. Jefferson could...
...against 12 other candidates, including Louisiana state representative Karen Carter, who has the backing of the state's Democratic establishment; former city councilman Troy Carter (who is not related to Karen); and state senator Derrick Shepherd, who launched his campaign with a direct attack on Jefferson's fitness to lead. There's even a well-financed Republican, attorney Joe Lavigne, vying for the solidly Democratic seat, and such is the state of things in New Orleans these days that he has a mathematical chance of making it into a December runoff with Jefferson or another Democrat if no single candidate...
...Jefferson, for his part, has lined up a slew of endorsements of his own: labor groups, a phalanx of influential African-American ministers, and most prominently, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. "It's across the board, and it's wide and deep, and it shows the support we continue to have, the great reservoir of goodwill we continue to enjoy in this district," Jefferson said at the red-bean-and-hot-dog-fueled opening of his New Orleans campaign headquarters this month. The election could hinge on the 40,000 displaced voters who drove in or voted absentee...
...Nagin, no stranger to controversy, said he was just returning a favor by backing Jefferson. "He was one of the few elected officials that supported me during the mayor's race, and I told him that if he needed my support, I would reciprocate," Nagin said. The mayor insisted that Jefferson's experience and relationships in Congress would make him effective, even as the clouds of scandal grow darker. "I think that he will still be effective - more effective than somebody who's a rookie, absolutely," he said, adding, "Until he's indicted, I think we ought to presume...
...stunning move for Nagin, who before Katrina cast himself as a crusader against corruption and a darling of the city's largely white business establishment. But the storm altered the New Orleans political terrain along with the physical landscape, and Jefferson may end up taking a page from Nagin's reelection playbook: Position yourself as a champion of the dispersed and dispossessed, the victim of piling-on by outside forces, and rally those still living outside the city to the cause. Nagin, however, had one advantage that Jefferson lacks: his chief opponents in the mayoral race were white, making...