Yesterday New Orleans held its elections, delayed as a reult of the effects of Hurricane Gustav. Results of the races can be viewed on The Louisiana Secretary of State’s website and also at WWL Radio‘s website.
Green Party member Malik Rahim ran a strong race despite a media blackout on his campaign.
Marnie Glickman, Founder and Executive Director of Green Change , and who spearheaded a volunteer phone banking effort, writes:
Our dedicated phone team dialed 2,309 phone numbers, spoke with 334 voters and left messages with 847 households.
With all precincts reporting in, according to information from the above websites, Malik received 3% of the vote, or 1,880 votes.
The news items published to date (see list below) do not mention Malik Rahim’s campaign. In this particular race, the Democratic incumbent, William J. Jefferson, was defeated by little known lawyer Repulican Anh Cao. Jefferson’s public career (this would have been his 10th term) was likely affected by his indictment and pending trial on corruption charges. The NY Times reports that analyses of the race indicate that the Republican win is probably the result of a large white voter turnout:
In heavily white precincts, turnout was about 26 percent, while it was only about 12 percent in the heavily black precincts, said Greg Rigamer, a New Orleans demographer and analyst.
Independent News Sites did post scattered articles on Malik’s race:
"I" Report: Malik Rahim: Another Candidate in Louisiana’s 2nd District
Other News Items about this Congressional Race in NOLA:
New York Times: Voters Oust Indicted Congressman in Louisiana
CNN: Indicted Louisiana congressman loses re-election bid
BBC: Vietnam-born lawyer wins US poll
Politico: Holy Cao: Republican defeats Jefferson
Assorted other links from Google News
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 