And the message is:

We want the same bozos running our city, but with MORE federal money!

Here are the election stats:

Ray Nagin (I) 41,489 38%
Mitch Landrieu 31,499 29%
Ron Forman 18,734 17%
Robert Couhig 10,287 10%
Virginia Boulet 2,367 2%
Tom Watson 1,264 1%
Peggy Wilson 772 1%

In the convoluted world of Louisiana’s open primary system, here’s what’s happening: since no candidate in the bunch got a pure majority of the votes, the top TWO vote-getters will engage in a run-off election.

This pits Mayor Ray “Where’s mah friggin’ buses” Nagin against Mitch Landrieu, brother of our senior senatrix “Hurricane Mary” Landrieu and son of a former New Orleans mayor, Moon Landrieu. In this selection, I am hoping for a “none of the above” slot on the ballot.

BOTH of these guys are status quo: Nagin for being arguably the dumbest possible spokesman in the midst of disaster, Landrieu for being closely connected with the decades of graft that made New Orleans politics the most corrupt in a state that tops the nation in corruption. Neither of these guys is going to give the rest of the country the warm fuzzy feeling that federal dollars will be properly used in New Orleans. That is, unless your definition of “proper use” includes “$100,000 for you, $100,000 for me, and $500 to paint the old levee so it looks like it’s been worked on…”