****OFFICIAL LA-2 RUNOFF RACE (William Jefferson-freezer cash man) THREAD****

[ncrainbowgrrl]

Allegedly, polls close at 8pm CST in Louisiana. Well, it's 9:14 EST right now- 8:14 CST.

Link to Election results from WWLTV.com -http://www.wwltv.com/
Link to the results as they come in from Sec of State's office: http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=120906
One more link- from WGNO-TV New Orleans: http://abc26.trb.com/news/politics/wgno-elections-framed,0,7448418.framedurl

[ncrainbowgrrl]

1. Another link for results-

http://www.wwltv.com/

[ncrainbowgrrl]

2. kick

:kick:

Ok, I'll stop kicking my own thread now! Hope this doesn't sink!

[MonkeyFunk]

4. with 30% reporting,

Jefferson's ahead 53/47

[Catherine Vincent]

3. No results so far (from the second link).

Thanks for the links! :hi:

[yankeeinlouisiana]

5. 53 - 47, Jefferson

30% vote in

[Zynx]

6. I can't believe that many people would vote for that scumbag.

However, 62% or something like that voted for Hastert in his district so, meh.

[LA lady]

7. I was afraid of this. n/t

[Ken Burch]

8. Jefferson was hitting his socially conservative side hard in the ads

attacking his opponent for being pro gay-marriage, which probably got him a chunk of evangelical votes. He probably got the votes of other GOP supporters who wanted to screw up the Dems by sending a Dem sleazebag back to Congress to embarass Pelosi & Co. And, unfortunately, even a lot of African-American voters in LA are conservative compared to the national party.

So there was always a strong possibility Jefferson could scrape through with this sort of a campaign.

[Ignacio Upton]

10. This makes the case for LA needing closed primaries

Jefferson won't be in that seat in two years from now...but unfortunately that may because he will get indicted. Is it still possible to refuse him his seat? Also, what will Pelosi do with his committee assignments? Will they be restored?

[Eric J in MN]

12. It would be a bad precedent to refuse to seat the choice

...of the voters, just because he's being investigated.

[Ignacio Upton]

14. Sadly you are right

I just hope he doesn't get indicted within the next two years. Also, it's possible that he may refuse to resign even in that case. I'd like to know why the DCCC and the DNC didn't help fund Carter? Technically this is a general election race, so it's not like they're intervening in a primary.

[ButterflyBlood]

18. He's going to be indicted

The guy was taped accepting a bribe and the money was later found in his freezer. The case is crystal-clear. But of course the plan was to wait and hope he was returned to Congress before this occurs.

A person can't serve in Congress from prison though, so you can bet that he won't be sitting in his seat at the end of next term.

[Ignacio Upton]

20. He's gone in two years

And I agree that he's a crook. I don't care if he's a Democrat (and he's not a very loyal one either...he voted for fucking CAFTA and made National Guardsmen take him to his house when NOLA was flooded so he could get something, possibly money) he deserves to go to jail if he's indicted, and I just hope he resigns if that indictment is served. If he doesn't, then we can always strip him of his committee assignments again or even kick him out of the caucus.

[Hippo_Tron]

31. I think LA is getting a primary system come 2008

And what I can't understand is why Democrats didn't go all out to defeat Jefferson. If I were Pelosi I would've sent Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to New Orleans to campaign for Carter and dumped a few million into her campaign from national funds.

I would make sure that the media notices that Democrats take care of our corruption problems.

[papau]

9. more than a third (38%)of the vote in and the Indie -former Dem- Jefferson leads by 6% n/t

n/t

[LA lady]

17. Independent?

he is running as a Democrat...

[papau]

29. my error - I saw the "I" next to name and thought indie rather than incumbent - time for bed n/t

http://www.wwltv.com/

[Eric J in MN]

11. If William Jefferson wins, and he goes to prison within the next

...2 years, then Karen Carter will be in a good position for a rematch.

[Ignacio Upton]

13. And Jefferson going to prison could swing the House back to the GOP in 2008

If the MSM can get away with the "both parties are corrupt" theme (even though the Congressional Caucus and the LA Democratic Party didn't endorse him!) The only thing preventing that is if investigations reveal the corruption of the Bush Administration.

[ButterflyBlood]

16. I doubt it'll have much an effect

He's just one Democrat who's been ostrachized by the main party. STill loks bad for the district though.

I bet the only reason Jefferson hasn't been indicted yet is because of this though, they only wanted to indict him AFTER the election.

[Ignacio Upton]

19. You do have a point

If Tom DeLay was the only person to get indicted, then corruption would not have been as much of an issue. But Libby got indicted, and Rove came close. Then you had Duke Cunningham and Jack Abramoff and MZM. People like Katherine Harris and Richard Pombo and John Sweeney were emblematic of GOP INSTITUTIONAL corruption. Then you had Foley. Also, if we can investigate this administration, then their legal troubles will overshadow Jefferson's.

...Of course, Alan Mollohan of West Virginia is also facing a probe, and he (like Jefferson and Murtha and Maxine Waters) is also on CREW's list of Most Corrupt Members of Congress. Two of the Democrats listed on it are under investigation. If he gets indicted before the next election day, then his troubles, combined with Jefferson's, could hurt us.

[ButterflyBlood]

23. Mollohan might be more of a problem

since he has more standing in the party. Jefferson is a complete pariah who by an independent group's power rankings is current the least powerful member of Congress.

Still none of these people are in the position DeLay is, and there's nothing as widespread as the Abramoff situation against the Democrats. But anything negative doesn't help.

[Ignacio Upton]

21. If he's indicted, at least we can say that we didn't support him

Pelosi can point out how she took away his seniority, and how the LA Democratic Party endorsed Carter as their candidate instead. He's basically like Lieberman at this point...an "Independent Democrat" as far as I'm concerned.

[ButterflyBlood]

25. Worth nothing that

after the FBI raid on his office, it was Hastert who was his strongest defender and loudest in condemning the raid. Crooks of a feather stick together clearly. The Democrats need to point out most of his supporters ever since the case broke have been Republicans.

[Ignacio Upton]

26. The Republicans blew their chance to neutralize corruption when Hastert said that

...Or blew their corruption in 2006 I should say. Sadly, we will have to divert our time and effort to getting rid of Jefferson and reminding the electorate that we didn't and don't support him...time that could have been spent going after BushCo.

[MonkeyFunk]

27. No

Hastert was actually taking a principled stand on the separation of powers. The executive branch cannot just march into the legislative branch and start snooping around.

[ButterflyBlood]

15. Wouldn't be a rematch

Jefferson won't be running in 2008, that's pretty much assured. even if he pulls through he'll most likely only be able to vote from a prison cell in 2008.

[yankeeinlouisiana]

22. It's still 56/44

Jefferson -- 51% reporting.

Nooooo, Karen has to win!!

[MonkeyFunk]

24. Now 58/42

with 53% reporting.

[Ken Burch]

28. Great. Victory for the sleazebag.

Thank you, conservative Democrats. Thanks a bunch. :puke:

[LouisianaLiberal]

30. WBRZ in Baton Rouge

says Carter now ahead at 55%. Don't know what the final outcome will be, but looks promising at this point.

On edit: No other web site or TV station seems to agree with this - perhaps a mistake on WBRZ's part. In any event, we'll find out soon enough.

[ButterflyBlood]

32. Bleh, what the fuck is wrong with New Orleans?!

Any district that'd reelect this scumbag over another Democrat has serious issues.

Whatever the case, anyone who voted for Jefferson just caused more problems for the national party. A big FUCK YOU goes out to all of them.