And that's the bell ending round 1...

Really, I'm not surprised at a runoff.

MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS
443 of 443 precincts reporting

Ray Nagin 41,489 38%
Mitch Landrieu 31,499 29%
Ron Forman 18,734 17%

What is more telling and surprising to me is that the two main non-Nagin candidates did not garner 50% between them. And, of course, the guy I endorsed here last week came in 3rd. Well, whatcha gonna do.

If that were the case and they'd gotten 50%, I'd be a lot more sure that Willy Wonka would be packing his bags in a few weeks. It would consolidate in the "anyone but Nagin" column.

Now? I have no freaking idea. That won't be enough - thanks to votes garnered by the other 19 contestants in the race (yikes). This nutjob could seriously be re-elected.

Of course, this won't be the only race on the ballot. Most of the City Council and Ass-essor races went to runoffs. Of course, the fact that there are still seven assessor races speaks volumes again about the lack of progressive political reform since Aug. 29.

Funny thing - while Kim was driving in Douglasville, GA the other day (in the county next to us) there were signs up that said "Re-elect our Mayor - Vote Nagin."

Aargh. Blech.

I don't know if it is funny or sad that it would take just slightly more than 50,000 votes to win the keys to the mayoral mansion. I should have moved in!