New Orleans tells GOP to stick it where the hurricanes don’t blow

Saturday’s mayoral election in the Big Easy didn’t give any one candidate enough votes to win. But it sent a message loud and clear to the Republican Party.

After all precincts and absentee ballots were reported, the result will be a two-man runoff between high vote getter, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and runner up, Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu – both Democrats. Coming in third was businessman, Ron Forman – also a Democrat.

NEW ORLEANS – Mayor Ray Nagin and Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu will compete in a runoff next month following Saturday’s mayoral election, a tricky experiment of modern-day democracy that gave voters scattered by Hurricane Katrina a say in this city’s future.With all the precincts and absentee ballots reported in the nonpartisan primary, Nagin topped all candidates with 38 percent or 41,489 votes but fell short of the majority he would have needed to win a second term and avoid the May 20 runoff.

Landrieu had 29 percent, or 31,499 votes. Nonprofit executive Ron Forman followed with 17 percent, 18,734 votes, and 19 other candidates trailed far behind. (Full Story)