[EM] Newcomers Claim New Orleans Runoff

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

D- A report from the real political land about a top 2 runoff election.

Any CW in the 48 percent of the votes NOT for the top 2 ???  

Only the Shadow knows !!!

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Newcomers Claim New Orleans Runoff

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
  
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Two men who had never run for office, a cable executive 
and the police chief, led 13 opponents in Saturday's primary for mayor to 
reach the March 2 runoff. 

With 432 of 442 precincts - 98 percent - reporting, Cox Cable executive Ray 
Nagin had 36,396 votes, or 28 percent. Richard Pennington, on leave as 
superintendent of police, had 30,300 votes, or 24 percent. 

``This is about New Orleans growing,'' Nagin, 45, told his supporters. ``It's 
about one of the greatest cities in America finally waking up and saying, 
`We're sick and tired, and sick and tired of the same old politics.''' 

Nagin's self-financed grassroots campaign had no backing from any of New 
Orleans political organizations. However, he was endorsed by the city's daily 
newspaper, The Times-Picayune, and two weekly tabloids - Gambit, the free 
alternative paper, and Louisiana Weekly, a paper aimed at black readers 

Pennington, 54, in a speech claiming the second spot, said security would 
continue to be part of his campaign. ``The Super Bowl is here; this is a safe 
city,'' he said. 

State Sen. Paulette Irons had 23,529 votes, or 18 percent. Councilmen Jim 
Singleton and Troy Carter had 16,619 and 13,335 votes, or 13 and 10 percent. 

Opponents said both men were too close to Mayor Marc Morial, who could not 
run for a third term. Pennington was recruited and appointed by the mayor; 
Nagin's partners in the New Orleans Brass hockey team are friends of 
Morial's. 

Each says Morial will not influence his decisions if he is elected. 

Pennington had been expected to make the cut. But nobody else - except 
candidates and their partisans - would predict his opponent. 

A referendum on raising the city's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, $1 above 
the national minimum, also was on the ballot. It passed, but legal challenges 
are certain. 

With 98 percent of the precincts reporting, the vote was 70,635 yes to 41,330 
no, a 63 percent to 37 percent split. 

``The business and social leaders of New Orleans have gotten by for decades 
by giving the citizens and workers promises and parades, and now the voters 
have clearly said `Enough! We want real jobs with real wages,''' said Wade 
Rathke, chief organizer of Local 100 of Service Employees International 
Union. 

The mayor's race got off to a late start after Morial mounted a campaign to 
lift the city's two-term limit. Voters soundly rejected the bid in October 
and the field of candidates ballooned. 

Pennington, who has widespread name recognition as a popular reformer - he is 
credited with cleaning up a corrupt police department - was among the late 
entries. 

Irons, 48, had been the only major aspirant before the third-term referendum. 
But she was hurt by Pennington's candidacy - and the revelation that a 
brother described in campaign ads as a victim of ``violence in the streets'' 
actually died in a shootout with police after a robbery. 

Singleton, 68, has spent 24 years on the City Council. His age has been 
portrayed as a drawback for a high-profile job. 

Troy Carter, 38, elected to the council in 1994, has become a successful 
businessman in recent years. 

Term limits keep both Singleton and Carter from running again for council.