Rumors, Murmurs

1. Might Congressman Cao be switching parties?

There is confirmed chatter amongst local Democrats that this may be in the works. It would certainly make things interesting and might help Cao emerge out of a primary if other contenders end up beating up each other instead of the incumbent. Really, though, I'm not sure there's much of anything Cao can do in one direction or another to retain his seat. It certainly helps to vote in the interests of the district, as he did when he finally voted for healthcare reform the other day. If Cao departs from the GOP, it would certainly feed into the GOP purge narrative that Democrats are keen on playing up.


2. What is Karen Carter Peterson up to?

She's definitely running for Congress but won't announce until after the Mayor's race or even later. The Chairman of the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee, James Gray, has already seemingly endorsed Cedric Richmond. This is of particular interest because Gray is the father of State Senator Cheryl Gray Evans, who is Karen Carter Peterson's BFF. That could make things weird. And what does this say about Cheryl Gray Evans ambition, or lack their of, for higher office? The KCP development may contribute to the reasons why we're not seeing the local Democratic establishment follow the lead of national progressive organizations and the Obama administration in praising Congressman Cao's vote for healthcare reform.


3. Is State Sen. Ed Murray really a front-runner for Mayor?

Yes, just take a look at his fundraising totals for the quarter. For the lazy, that's nearly six hundred grand. We'll get a better sense of what's going on after the official deadline for campaign finance reports later this week.


4. Might we find someone other than Charlie Melancon to run for Senate?

A trustworthy reader wrote the old gmail account about State Senator Eric LaFleur:

E:

He'd be the best candidate of the bunch. But his wife is pregnant with their second child, and she's due either this month or next. I don't think he'll be throwing his hat in the ring. It totally sucks, but I'd love to see Charlie get cold feet, which may be the only thing to make him reconsider. I think he's the Louisiana version of Obama ... young State Senator that gets young folks totally invested in government/politics again.

Not sure there will ever be such a thing as the Louisiana version of Obama but I'd love to hear more about Senator LaFleur.

Karen Carter Peterson says no

Maybe I should change my running Mayoral odds segment from Race to the Punchline to Race from the Punchline. Maybe the bets should be for the next person to declare they're NOT running.

Yeeesh. This looks like a school board race more than it does one for the highest office in town.

Karen Carter Peterson would have been the front-runner but there are a lot of tough choices involved beyond your own electoral consideration.

Karen Carter Peterson's younger sister, Tara Carter Hernandez gets a lot of contract work through the city and would have had to quit all that if KCP won. That's not the case if Karen Carter Peterson successfully takes Congressman Cao's title, which is the job she's probably wanted all along anyway.

So with Arnie Fielkow, Mitch Landrieu, and Karen Carter Peterson bowing out, megatrillionaire John Georges looks increasingly tough to beat.

There's a lot more to elections than street money but when you're going up against a bunch of no names, being able to erect lots of big billboards and pay a bunch of sign-wavers might be enough to win.

Until someone else gets in the race or one of the other declared candidates can show they have a snowball's chance; we might be talking about Mayor Georges next year.