New Orleans Nagin Wins Mayor Election Due To Black Vote

For all that has changed in the big easy since Hurricane Katrina, seems to me that there remains one thread of continuity. The African-American citizens of Orleans Parish took this year's voting "right" seriously. Yesterday's mayorial elections produced 5000 more voters than the primary elections last month which is not the norm in Louisiana. Voting advocates concentrated more on get-out-the-vote efforts rather than the political and legal challenges seen as a prelude to the primary, and, surprisingly, no new lawsuits were filed in advance of Saturday's elections. It will be interesting to note how future election strategies emerge.

Nagin's had a nine month experience since Katrina. How he applies what he's learned will be evident in the manner in which he guides the city through the landscape of rebuilding.

Mapped info here -- a breakout of the number of registered voters in Orleans Parish organized by the floodwater depths throughout the parish.