(H/T Ace of Spades)
NEW ORLEANS – In a year when national Republican fortunes took a turn for the worse, Louisiana delivered the GOP two seats in Congress in elections delayed by Hurricane Gustav.
Indicted Democratic U.S. Rep. William Jefferson was ousted Saturday from his New Orleans area district, while Republicans narrowly held on to the seat vacated by a retiring incumbent.
The wins followed Republicans' reconquest of another House seat earlier this fall that had been lost to Democrats.
In the 2nd Congressional District, which includes most of New Orleans, Republican attorney Anh "Joseph" Cao won 50 percent of the vote to Jefferson's 47 percent and will become the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. His only previous political experience was an unsuccessful 2007 bid for a seat in the state legislature.
This is actually shocking. Up until now, Democrats were totally immune from accusations of corruption, double dealing, lying, graft, sexual improprieties, etc. Only Republicans were punished for these things. But in Louisiana, which vies for the title of corruption HQ with Chicago, apparently the voters are marginally less forgiving of criminal activity.
Just recently this race was covered in Fox News and the default assumption was that Jefferson would be re-elected.
More from the Wall Street Journal:
Republicans made an aggressive push to take the 2nd District seat from the 61-year-old Mr. Jefferson, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, laundering money and misusing his congressional office.
Unofficial results showed Mr. Cao winning 50% of the vote to Mr. Jefferson's 47%.
"The people of the 2nd District have spoken,'' Mr. Cao, 41, told supporters at a restaurant near the French Quarter. "We want new direction. We want action. We want accountability."
In a speech that was gracious but stopped short of concession, Mr. Jefferson blamed low voter turnout for his showing and said supporters may have thought he was a shoo-in after he won a Nov. 4 primary in the predominantly black and heavily Democratic district.
"I think people just ran out of gas a bit," he said. "People today flat didn't come out in large numbers."
Greg Rigamer, a New Orleans political consultant, said his analysis showed turnout in predominantly white sections of the district was double that in black areas. He said that helped push Mr. Cao to victory over Mr. Jefferson, who became Louisiana's first black congressman since Reconstruction when he took office in 1991. "This is quite a feat," Mr. Rigamer said of Mr. Cao's victory.
New Orleans voters had long been loyal to Mr. Jefferson, re-electing him in 2006 even after news of the bribery scandal broke. Late-night TV comics made him the butt of jokes after federal agents said they found $90,000 in alleged bribe money hidden in his freezer.
From Fox news:
Turnout appeared light in the district, where two-thirds of voters are Democrats and 11 percent are Republicans. More than 60 percent are black.
Though he was the underdog, Cao received endorsements from some Democrat and green-conscious groups as well as the area's Vietnamese-American community. Cao came to the United States as a child after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and went on to earn degrees in philosophy, physics and law.
...
Prosecutors contend Jefferson used his influence as chairman of the congressional Africa Investment and Trade Caucus to broker deals in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and other African nations on behalf of those who bribed him.
The 2007 indictment claims Jefferson received more than $500,000 in bribes and demanded millions more between 2000 and 2005, including the $90,000 found in the freezer of his Washington home.
One interesting flashback: how many remember the Republicans under Denny Hastert being outraged that the FBI raided Jefferson's office? You realize that happened in 2006? How long does it take to get an indictment? What are the odds that the case will be dropped? Has he not "suffered enough?" Don't Democrats have "get out of jail free" cards? Isn't this a case of "the Man" getting all over a brother?
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