Nagin is an idiot!!!
New Orleans mayor campaigns (in Houston)
Ray Nagin: 'Nobody's ever had to go through this'
HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) -- In a sign of the times for his storm-stricken city, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin campaigned for re-election Saturday in Houston, Texas.
Nagin is one of 23 candidates in one of the more unusual mayoral elections in U.S. history because most of the voters now live in other cities.
Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans on August 29, scattered almost all the nearly half-million residents of the Louisiana city across the nation and only an estimated 190,000 have returned. The storm killed about 1,300 people and destroyed some 300,000 homes on the Gulf Coast.
Houston, 350 miles to the west, has 150,000 evacuees, or almost as many New Orleanians as New Orleans.
So it was that Nagin, a Democrat who was elected mayor in 2002, was in Houston seeking votes for the April 22 ballot.
"It's a local election that is on a national stage, which is very unusual. Nobody's ever had to go through this," he told reporters.
In a speech organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People civil rights group, Nagin discussed the recovery of New Orleans and explained the complicated absentee voting procedures for those who have not returned to the city.
Nagin, who sparked controversy recently by saying New Orleans would become a "chocolate city" again, told the mostly black audience of about 50 people that the election could bring a sea change to New Orleans politics, which has been dominated by blacks for more than two decades.
"There are 23 candidates running for mayor. Very few of them look like us," he said. "There's a potential to be a major change in the political structure in New Orleans."
A recent poll showed Nagin, who is black, trailing Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, a member of one of Louisiana's most prominent white political families and a New Orleans mayoral candidate, by 35 percent to 25 percent.
Lightning rod
Political experts say Nagin's re-election chances may hinge on his ability to mobilize the black evacuee vote because many of those who have returned to New Orleans are whites who lived in the French Quarter and Uptown sections largely untouched by Katrina.
Before Katrina, New Orleans' population was about 70 percent black, but the storm hit traditionally black neighborhoods hard.
Nagin, as the figure who led the city through the tumult of Katrina, has become a lightning rod for public opinion on the government's bungled response to the disaster and black support for him is not guaranteed.
Several in the crowd, almost all of them evacuees, spoke up to criticize him, while others paid him tribute.
One man broke into tears as he said Nagin waited too long to order a mandatory evacuation of the city when Katrina was moving in from the Gulf of Mexico.
"The mandatory was too late. It was too late, Mayor Nagin. Two days to evacuate 500,000 people, including Alabama and Mississippi, you can't do it," he said.
Another man told Nagin he campaigned for him in 2002 and would do so again.
"Everything that happened was not your fault," he said.
"Thank you, brother," Nagin replied.
Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New Orleans mayor campaigns (in Houston)
Ray Nagin: 'Nobody's ever had to go through this'
HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) -- In a sign of the times for his storm-stricken city, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin campaigned for re-election Saturday in Houston, Texas.
Nagin is one of 23 candidates in one of the more unusual mayoral elections in U.S. history because most of the voters now live in other cities.
Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans on August 29, scattered almost all the nearly half-million residents of the Louisiana city across the nation and only an estimated 190,000 have returned. The storm killed about 1,300 people and destroyed some 300,000 homes on the Gulf Coast.
Houston, 350 miles to the west, has 150,000 evacuees, or almost as many New Orleanians as New Orleans.
So it was that Nagin, a Democrat who was elected mayor in 2002, was in Houston seeking votes for the April 22 ballot.
"It's a local election that is on a national stage, which is very unusual. Nobody's ever had to go through this," he told reporters.
In a speech organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People civil rights group, Nagin discussed the recovery of New Orleans and explained the complicated absentee voting procedures for those who have not returned to the city.
Nagin, who sparked controversy recently by saying New Orleans would become a "chocolate city" again, told the mostly black audience of about 50 people that the election could bring a sea change to New Orleans politics, which has been dominated by blacks for more than two decades.
"There are 23 candidates running for mayor. Very few of them look like us," he said. "There's a potential to be a major change in the political structure in New Orleans."
A recent poll showed Nagin, who is black, trailing Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, a member of one of Louisiana's most prominent white political families and a New Orleans mayoral candidate, by 35 percent to 25 percent.
Lightning rod
Political experts say Nagin's re-election chances may hinge on his ability to mobilize the black evacuee vote because many of those who have returned to New Orleans are whites who lived in the French Quarter and Uptown sections largely untouched by Katrina.
Before Katrina, New Orleans' population was about 70 percent black, but the storm hit traditionally black neighborhoods hard.
Nagin, as the figure who led the city through the tumult of Katrina, has become a lightning rod for public opinion on the government's bungled response to the disaster and black support for him is not guaranteed.
Several in the crowd, almost all of them evacuees, spoke up to criticize him, while others paid him tribute.
One man broke into tears as he said Nagin waited too long to order a mandatory evacuation of the city when Katrina was moving in from the Gulf of Mexico.
"The mandatory was too late. It was too late, Mayor Nagin. Two days to evacuate 500,000 people, including Alabama and Mississippi, you can't do it," he said.
Another man told Nagin he campaigned for him in 2002 and would do so again.
"Everything that happened was not your fault," he said.
"Thank you, brother," Nagin replied.
Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
