With six weeks remaining before the qualifying period begins - July 9th - 11th - the race to vanquish Congressman William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson has started to heat up quite a bit. Let's take a look at all the candidates ... starting with those that have moved beyond the "I'm looking at my options stage":
Bill Jefferson (D): Regardless of his indictment for corruption, the man is in the race at press time. Whether any of the candidates I discuss below will hinge, I believe, on whether any of them would be willing to hit him harder than his opponents did back in '06. Hell, where to start? How about starting with the late great Ashley Morris' post entitled, "How to Defeat Bill Jefferson." Ashley hit the nail on the head ... if you want to win, you're going to have to point out all those things about Mr. Jefferson. I think the strongest point of attack would be to hit the fact that Jefferson no longer has a committee vote, nor does he sit on the Ways and Means committee any longer, which means he can no longer bring home the bacon that New Orleans so desperately needs. Hell, even the non-voting D.C. Rep, Eleanor Norton, has a committee vote! It's sad, really ... could you imagine the money a tag-team of Jefferson and Landrieu working their respective chambers could have brought home?
Karen Carter-Peterson (D): Ms. Carter-Peterson is currently the Speaker Pro Tempore in the House, and she represents HD 93, which covers parts of the Garden District, St. Thomas, Central City, Mid-City, CBD, Treme, the Fairgrounds, and the 7th Ward. She lost the run-off to Jefferson back in 2006, presumably because she got stuck with the "white" candidate label in the run-off, despite the fact that she is a black woman. For more on this, head on over to the Yellow Man's blog.
Helena Moreno (D): She is the former WDSU-TV morning anchor ... she apparently has a campaign team in place, according to the Gambit Weekly's Scuttlebutt. I don't know enough about those folks to evaluate whether they're good or not, I just know they are on the ground working.
Byron L. Lee (D): You just knew that there were going to be a West Banker in this thing ... and this time, it's Mr. Lee, who is currently a Councilman for District 3 in Jefferson Parish, which, from the map provided by the Jefferson Parish Council, includes Terrytown, Gretna, Marrero, Harvey, Westwego and Kenner. The question here is whether the West Bank will vote for one of their own, rather than anyone else running, which is another reason why Jefferson was able to slip into a run-off last time, if I recall correctly.
Cedric Richmond (D): He's a State Legislator representing HD 101, which is New Orleans East. He's done some good, some questionable, and has a campaign manager. He's in his final term in the State House.
Now for those looking at it ...
Juan LaFonta (D): He was recently elected to his first full term in the State House, after having been elected to fill out someone else's term in 2005. He represents HD 96. If anyone knows whose term he filled out, please let me know. Lafonta is currently the Chair of the Black Legislative Caucus in the House.
And finally, those definitely NOT running:
Derrick Shepherd (D): This is no suprise, considering that he has been indicted by the US Attorney's office for helping a convicted felon launder money. He did finish 3rd in the jungle primary back in 2006.
