Nagin, Landrieu Cast Votes in New Orleans
By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
50 minutes ago
news.yahoo.com
Voters were deciding Saturday whether incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin or challenger Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu should oversee this city's long recovery from Hurricane Katrina — one of the largest reconstruction projects in U.S. history.
The winner takes office May 31, one day before the new storm season begins amid lingering uncertainties over the strength of area's flood protection and the viability of devastated neighborhoods.
Landrieu, the middle son of a longtime Louisiana political family, voted at his neighborhood precinct Saturday morning.
"It's been well fought. I thought it was positive," Landrieu said of the campaign. "At the end of the day, the city's going to be in good shape one way or another."
If he's elected, Landrieu will be the first white mayor in a generation, since his father, Moon Landrieu, left office in 1978.
Nagin greeted voters at his own precinct on Saturday, stopping briefly to help an elderly woman with a walker get out of a cab.
The former cable television executive, who won his first campaign for political office four years ago, was upbeat.
"The reaction we're getting from out on the streets is very positive among all demographics, all races," he said. "It's pretty amazing."
Nagin, a black businessman who had widespread support from white voters four years ago, lost much of that support in last month's primary but was predicting a stronger showing this time.
Fewer than half of New Orleans' 465,000 pre-Katrina residents have returned to the city, which remains marred by hollowed out homes and debris nine months after the storm struck and flood walls broke.
Evacuees were being bused from as far as Atlanta and Houston to vote, and many were expected to drive in to cast ballots. More than 24,000 ballots were cast early by mail or fax or at satellite polling places set up around Louisiana earlier in the month — 4,000 more than were cast early in the primary.
When a consolidated precinct housing multiple precincts from flooded neighborhoods opened at 6 a.m., the line was about 20 deep and moved swiftly once voting began. After that, a steady trickle of voters entered. Polls close at 8 p.m. CDT.
Among the first to vote was Willie Solomon, who has moved back into her Eighth Ward home where she rode out Hurricane Katrina, even though flood water reached her knees. Solomon said she was voting for Nagin.
"I'm not going to see one family run the whole city," Solomon said in reference to Landrieu, a career politician and a member of a prominent political family that includes the former mayor and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (news, bio, voting record).
Annabelle Landesman, who said she is living in a trailer in the yard of her home in the badly flooded Gentilly neighborhood, said she was switching her vote four years ago for Nagin to Landrieu this time around.
"I think we need change," said Landesman, who has lived in New Orleans for 75 years. "I have nothing against Nagin."
David Postel, a retired Air Force colonel, said he voted for Landrieu because he considers him "the lesser of two evils."
"We're hoping Landrieu has enough political pull to get a little more attention," he said.
The candidates, both Democrats, largely agree on issues, including the right of residents to return to all neighborhoods, even those far below sea level, and the urgent need for federal aid to speed rebuilding.
As a result, much of the debate has centered on leadership style, with Nagin, 49, trying to cast himself as the man willing to make tough decisions and stand up to federal officials when necessary.
His maverick, everyman style has won him fans since he was first elected in 2002 but also has opened him to criticism that he's a loose cannon.
Landrieu, 45, who argues the city lost its credibility nationally and internationally because of its response to Katrina, says his experience bringing people together will be needed to move New Orleans forward.
Landrieu said his ability to bridge disparate groups will give New Orleans a chance to remake itself into a better city than it was before the storm.
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