Sunday, May 4, 2008
Wild Ride for Cazayoux
Posted by Clancy DuBos on Sun, May 4, 2008 at 5:09 PM
Democratic State Rep. Don Cazayoux of New Roads survived a wild ride to win Louisiana’s Sixth Congressional District seat on Saturday. Cazayoux’s victory represents a major gain for Democrats, who haven’t held that seat for more than three decades. It also cuts against the grain of recent GOP victories in Louisiana, most notably Gov. Bobby Jindal’s big win in last October’s gubernatorial primary and the Republicans’ capture of 4 other statewide offices in the same statewide primary.
Cazayoux’s victory says as much about the caliber of his opposition as it does about his own considerable political skills. His major opponent was veteran GOP right-wing war horse Woody Jenkins, a former state representative from Baton Rouge who first gained statewide prominence as the guy who held up plastic fetuses on the House floor in 1990 in support of his strict anti-abortion bill. (The bill passed, but was vetoed by then-Gov. Buddy Roemer; the veto was overridden, but the courts struck down the law as unconstitutional.)
Running to Form
Posted by Clancy DuBos on Sun, May 4, 2008 at 3:52 PM
Steve Scalise’s easy victory in Saturday’s special election from Louisiana’s First Congressional District was a lot more predictable than the weather for the second week of Jazz Fest. The conservative district has consistently sent Republicans to Congress since Bob Livingston first captured the seat in 1977. Coincidentally, Livingston also first won the seat in a special election — as did David Vitter in 1999.
Looking ahead to future elections (the first of which will be later this year for him), Scalise can expect little or no opposition from fellow Republicans, and probably not much from Democrats — as long as he steers clear of trouble.
For decades, the First District, like many others nationwide and in Louisiana, favored its incumbents. The late F. Edward Hébert held the seat from 1940 until he voluntarily retired in 1976. Democrat Rick Tonry of St. Bernard Parish held it briefly (for about 4 months in early 1977) before resigning amid a vote-stealing scandal and then losing a Democratic primary to Ron Faucheux in the summer of 1977. Faucheux lost the general election to Livingston, who held the seat for 22 years before resigning in a Clinton-Era sex scandal.
There Should Be No Confusing Where the Hornets Are Playing Tonight
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Sun, May 4, 2008 at 1:36 AM
by Alejandro de los Rios
Well, the AP might consider the Hornets' Mardis Gras gold jerseys fashion-backwards (scroll to the bottom of the link, under "Game Notes"), but that isn't stopping the Hornets from going all gold tonight at the Hive Nest. George Shinn ws kind enough to pose for this picture pre-game and said that it was Chris Paul's idea to give out the shirts.
"He asked and we delivered," Shinn said.
The shirts would have been delivered earlier — namely, for Game 5 against the Mavericks — but they couldn't all be printed in time. If y'all remember Game 1 of that series (it seems so long ago, doesn't it) I interviewed Melvin Ely about being back in the playoffs a year after winning a title with the Spurs. Ely had mentioned that he thought about bringing his championship ring in, but forgot. Did he bring it tonight?
"Naw, I didn't think it was necessary," he said.
How so?
"Today in shoot around, everyone was real focused," he said. "Players were really vocal. I've been here a year and that's only happened a few times. I didn't want to bring in any distractions."
The team still isn't tense, though. While they might not be playing dodgeball in the locker room, they are loose, laughing and joking around. Ely, for example, had to deal with in the form of Hilton Armstrong, who was making faces and saying "like little baby toes, like mini vienna sausages" (quotes from the movies "Superbad") behind the reporter and cameraman. How is it that Ely was able to keep his focus?
"Years of practice," he said.
Tip-off is at 9:10 so, if you're reading this, put on some gold and get to a television. Now.
