Marching Orders pt. 1

Apologies for the delayed postage. Google was sweating me and my password on the comp at home. But thats past now...
Celebrations amidst devastation. One stat I heard Mitch Landrieu drop the other night was this: 1,800 people lost their lives to Hurricane Katrina. Now from a recent news report I am lead to believe Haiti has already buried 10 times that number. Its hard to forget about the Island right now considering how its fate has been historically linked to Louisiana's. There probably are already thousands of Haitians living in New Orleans right now, it only makes sense that there will be a another great diaspora of survivors to land in the city soon too.

Calendar of events to catch you up:
Mardi Gras is 3 weeks away, the election and Big Bowl are only 2 weeks away.
Feb. 6 Mayoral Elections
Feb. 7 Supaball
Feb. 16 Fat Tuesday, end of Mardi Gras

There are 6 canidates for Mayor:

Rob Couhig- The only republican in the race. I heard him speak and his plan for reform was this "All we have to do is change the culture of this City..." good luck with that one. Next!

Nadine Ramsey- Only female in the race. Gave up a judge position to run. That was an appointed, not elected seat. So-so speaker, late to announce & last in polls.

James Perry- Looks like Biggie Smalls, Speaks like Barack Obama. Definitely a good dude. Smart honest canidate but its rather clear he's not gonna win if only because he's far behind these 3 people.

Mitch Landrieu- Current Lt. Gov, lost to Ray Nagin 52/48% in last election. Brother of US Sen. Mary and son of former Mayor Moon (fyi: the last white mayor of NO, 1970-78). 22 years in Government, career politician.

John Georges- Former Republican, millionaire who made his money from installing poker machines in bars. Should be disqualified for general clownishness after saying this about the internet. Great Clip.

Troy Henry- CEO of Henry Consulting, Inc. Pitching the idea that a successful businessman (rather than an experienced politician) will make for a good government man. This hypothesis has been clearly disproved over the past 8 years by Ray 'Dubya' Nagin (The W is included only because of similar parallels of lying and covering it up like certain former prezidentes). Henry is currently being sued by two groups, one of which is his former business partner. He is the leading black candidate.

Disclosure time: why am I getting paid by Mitch Landrieu? Because I'm broke and need the work, duh (10 bucks an hour and somehow untaxed? yes please!). But this is also how the LA/USA/TOdoMuNdo political system works and he's definitely not the worst candidate. At first I thought if they're going to pay me to canvas, I can just roam the streets unsupervised and spout off about how I think James Perry is really the man. And he is the man, but I also believe now that Mitch is the man for this job. This is not a Barack-Obama-election moment with one stellar candidate out to reform history. You know what they say about politics and sausage, right? I believe Mitch Landrieu is the best sausage maker around and the butcher with the cleanest hands. That's all.

Here's how the race works: general election is on Saturday the 6th of February, the same day that the streets of St. Charles and Canal will be blocked off for Mardi Gras parades (Dubya-Tee-Eff, Nola?!). If no candidate gets a 50% majority that day, the top 2 will go into a runoff. This is usually a black guy and a white guy and that generally becomes the racially divisive and decisive issue. When I went out canvassing for Mitch in the wealthy Garden District, I either ran into to his supporters or the supporters of John Georges, nowhere was the Troy Henry contingent present. My concern is not that a black guy will be elected Mayor, my concern is that another nicompoop, former CEO will be. The goal is to get Mitch elected with 50+ percent the first time and avoid the runoff altogether. That's all.

Stay tuned, well get around to that other good news real soon...