For my money, the race for U.S. Senate between Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu and Republican challenger John Kennedy has been the most interesting contest on the Louisiana ballot this year. Regardless of the outcome on Tuesday (Nov. 4), the race contained an interesting surprise and a familiar lesson.

As I write this (on Friday, Oct. 31, four days before the election), Landrieu appears to be holding on to a significant lead in all independent polls. We in the talking head business are fond of saying that polls do NOT predict an election’s outcome. Nonetheless, the closer we get to Election Day, the more likely a reputable pollster’s recent results will, in fact, presage the outcome. We’ll see.

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Did you have enough Halloween? The best part of the weekend for me is that extra hour of spring-forward, fall-back sleep…reset your clocks tonight and check your smoke alarm batteries. Coming up in Sunday’s Gambit:

• It’s our annual “40 Under 40″ issue, honoring young and youngish New Orleanians who are contributing to the city in some amazing ways — volunteerism, community organizing, fundraising, technology, green initiatives, and the arts. (I interviewed 23-year-old Happy Johnson and came away with the feeling I’ve done nothing with my life….)

• Jason Berry looks at the power plays behind the decision to shutter some local Catholic churches, and gets inside the protest vigil that began this week at Our Lady of Good Counsel….

• All the arts & entertainment coverage you can swallow to help you plan your week, along with cartoons (This Modern World and Vic ‘n’ Nat’ly)….

• There’s an election on Tuesday — have you heard? Clancy DuBos examines the perils of underestimating Sen. Mary Landrieu, and Jeremy Alford offers a postmortem look at the Louisiana campaign season….

• …and Gambit will be trying something new on Tuesday night: liveblogging the election from the studios of WWL-TV, reporting the results as they come in and getting off-the-cuff reaction from the reporters, analysts, and pundits on the Channel 4 desk. We’ll take your questions and get inside the news operation to see how the WWL folks get it all done.

That’s it. Have a good All Saints’ Day. Get out to a cemetery and pay your respects.