Any time people are displaced, you lose a lot of institutional history and institutional leadership and we hear that many of those people may not return because they fear they will not be able to experience the same level of life. Once you lose that level of institutional leadership and institutional knowledge, it's not going to be replaced immediately and especially when you look at the fact that Katrina altered the demographics of New Orleans overnight. |
Does he have the capacity to lead? Don't count me out of this mayor's race yet. |
Everything reflects the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the demographics of the city. That impacted how many white candidates perceive their political fortunes. |
He alters his political style to accommodate different circumstances. |
He's someone respected for doing his homework on issues. He's viewed as a very serious, very studious person. |
It looks like this has some traction. Candidates are like sharks: When they smell blood, they will strike. And the sharks are definitely in the water now. |
It will be a whole new campaign for the runoff. |
It's all between the ears of the listener. Those who are looking to use this as an opportunity to say, 'look, we should not support him,' they're going to use it. Those who are going to say, 'yes, he was speaking what needs to be said,' they're going to look at this as maybe a one time occurrence and sweep it under the rug. |
That exponentially increases the budget for this mayor's race. |
The dialogue has shifted from being about his insensitive and inappropriate statement to questions about his competency. |
There's a lot of frustration. Whether or not all the incumbents get defeated, that is to be seen. |
They both need to enhance the momentum to increase the turnout. |
They're competing for a job that's essentially monumental rebuilding a destroyed city in an economically constricted environment. |
Thirty-eight percent is not a lot, but he's not dead. |
This is an unprecedented election. That's why there is so much of it we can't speculate on. |