The more things change the more they stay the same. The front runners in the important races all seem like the same old players who got us into this mess. If we are looking for radical change we need to find a way to vote for it.

The Alliance for Good Government and the Times Picayune endorsements carry a lot of weight in the city, but the black political organizations SOUL, BOLD,COUP and especially LIFE do a better job of delivering votes. I hear they are planning to serve chicken on the buses from Houston to the Lake Charles satellite voting center. Too bad those buses weren't available on August 28, 2005.

Mayor - Nagin (incumbent), Landrieu ( Lt Gov) runoff to be decided by racial balance of voters; Forman in 3rd has AGG and TP endorsements

Council-at-Large - Thomas (incumbent), Clarkson (District C incumbent), minor challenge by ex-Saints executive Arnie Fielkow

Council Districts - Batt in a battle with the AnyBodyButBatt PAC and unknown Midura, B incumbent Morell Michael Duplantier AGG endorsement, C open by virtue of Clarkson's try for at large leaving a couple of white female attorneys (Booth and Palmer) pitted against a Black male attorney who happens to be named James Carter (Troy Carter is a familiar local name as he and Clarkson swapped wins for the District C and the state legislature in the past) and ex-Councilman Mike Early reemerges (with incumbent like name recognition and a nearly forgotten tax conviction), the other districts were heavily damaged and who knows who is going to vote but there don't seem to be big challenges to the incumbents who may win on name recognition alone.

Assessors - incumbents look likely to win over the IQ or I Quit candidates. IQ has seven candidates who have pledged to work together after election to form a single assessors office and use their salaries to hire a professional to assess real estate. IQ lost a bid to include "IQ" as a nickname in their names on the ballot. Ron Mazier or Ron "IQ" Mazier vs Tom Arnold. I say the old guard has the upper hand based on yard signs and clout in the courts. What happens if one or two IQ candidates win?

Clerk of Criminal Court - the only name here is Lombard, but she's not related to the former incumbent. Nick Varrecchio has the Alliance for Good Government endorsement and that may carry some weight. Could be another white vs black vote.

Criminal Sheriff - Gusman (incumbent) claiming stellar performance in the aftermath of the storm in protecting the prisoners and opening the Union Terminal jail. Both were disasters to my recollection. The election turned nasty as the challenger starting charging Gusman with all sorts of malfeseance. Gusman shot back claiming the challenger was a criminal attorney with many of his clients in jail. Gusman asked if you want to give him the keys.

Civil Sheriff, Civil Clerk, Coroner - targets for consolidation, coroner unopposed as no MD qualified and thats a requirement.

Judges - more of these later but electing them just seems to breed bad results