As I predicted earlier this year, with the entry of more white candidates in the upcoming mayoral race for New Orleans, the central issue of this whole race will be RACE–not who posseses the ability to turn that city around from the perpetual downward spiral it has been on for years, but race.
The following excerpt is from latimes.com
“The black community had never widely trusted or welcomed Nagin, who is black. In his previous race for office, the former cable company executive won about 40% of the black vote, and most of that support came from middle-class and upper-middle-class African Americans, most of whom remain displaced by the storm.
He won largely because of widespread support among the city’s corporate elite; Nagin received about 85% of the white vote. This time, many of his supporters in the business community  who are desperate for New Orleans to stake a claim to viability again  seem to be abandoning him.
But many blacks, who to a large degree believe that their neighborhoods are about to be bulldozed in favor of a whiter and wealthier city, appear to be backing Nagin this time.
“He has completely reversed his base,” said Edward F. Renwick, director of the Loyola University Institute of Politics in New Orleans.
This is one of the last cities in the nation where the politics of race still are measured in black and white. And now, at 49, Nagin is expected to be the “black candidate” for the first time.” (more…)
(Hat tip:Laylah Amatullah Barrayn)
