The 2010 citywide elections brought a major paradigm shift in local politics as voters ignored racial appeals and voted for experience and competence — most of the time. Some political newbies (like mayoral candidate James Perry) fell short, while others (like Susan Guidry and Kristin Palmer) won big. My usual list of “winnas” and “loozas” thus is supplemented by several “splits.” Here goes:

DA WINNAS

1. New Orleanians — The Feb. 6 primary saw major crossover vote — both ways — in the victories of Mitch Landrieu (the first New Orleans mayor to win a majority among blacks as well as whites); council candidates Arnie Fielkow, Stacy Head and Kristin Palmer; judicial candidates Tracey Flemings Davillier and Paula Brown; Sheriff Marlin Gusman; Criminal Court Clerk Arthur Morrell; and Assessor Erroll Williams — all of whom had opponents of another race.

2. Democrats and the ALF-CIO — Every office on the ballot this year was captured by a Democrat, and the AFL-CIO, long a source of Democratic support, backed individual winners in many races.

3. BOLD — The Central City black political organization saw Karen Carter Peterson win a Senate seat once held by the group’s archenemy Bill Jefferson. Carter Peterson went on to play a big role in helping Susan Guidry beat Jay Batt in the hotly contested District A race for City Council. BOLD also crossed racial lines to back Stacey Head in the council District B race.

DA LOOZAS

1. Ray Nagin — He went on black radio asking African-Americans to vote along racial lines, which is how he won re-election in 2006. Not only did black voters overwhelmingly reject his race-based appeal, the results of Feb. 6 also repudiated Nagin himself. Maybe that’s why he so determined to leave the city bankrupt now: After years of taking petty shots at other politicians, he now wants to take revenge on all New Orleanians.

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Timing is everything in politics, and the timing of the race to fill state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson’s former seat in House District 93 has been set for May 1 — which falls on the second weekend of Jazz Fest. The runoff, if needed, will be May 29, which falls on Memorial Day weekend. Qualifying will be March 30-April 1, which is just days before Easter Sunday.

The election and qualifying dates were set by House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers, who the state constitution authorizes to call special elections to fill House vacancies. Tucker says he called the election for May 1 partly because that date is the next scheduled special election date (i.e., it’s already paid for by the state) and partly because he wants to make sure the district is represented during the upcoming legislative session, which begins March 29. The May 1 date also was recommended by Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, the state’s chief elections officer.

The timing of the special election was largely out of Tucker’s control. Peterson did not officially resign until last Monday, March 1, when she took her oath of office as a senator. Tucker could not legally call the election until she officially tendered her resignation.

Tucker may soon be calling another special election in the House for May 1 — depending on the outcome of the City Council runoff in District E. If state Rep. Austin Badon wins that seat — and if he resigns or announces his resignation prospectively soon enough — Tucker says he will schedule the election to fill his unexpired term in House District 100 for May 1 as well. “It’s important for those two districts to be represented in this session,” Tucker says. “Even if each race goes to a runoff, many of the biggest decisions come in the final weeks.” The session must end by June 21.

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State Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, has prefiled House Bill 62, the intent of which is to bar the person who will serve as the appointed interim lieutenant governor after May 3 from running for the job in the fall. The lieutenant governor’s office will become vacant when its current occupant, Mitch Landrieu, takes the oath of office as New Orleans’ next mayor.

Under current law, Gov. Bobby Jindal will nominate an interim replacement, who must be approved by a majority vote of both the House and Senate. Because more than a year will remain in Landrieu’s term when he resigns, a special election will be held in the fall to choose a successor, who will serve the balance of Landrieu’s term. The next round of statewide elections will be in the fall of 2011.

Many expect that Jindal’s nominee will have to promise not to run in order to win legislative approval in light of the fact that several high-profile lawmakers are said to be considering a run for the office in the fall. Those lawmakers include state Senate President Joel Chaisson and House Speaker Jim Tucker, along with Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, former Gov. Kathleen Blanco (who previously served as lieutenant governor), and possibly others.

Abramson’s bill, if it passes, would become effective upon the governor’s signature, and he says he intends for it to apply to whoever gets the interim appointment. “I realize technically there may be a timing issue of whether it will be effective, depending on how quickly it moves through legislative process before a person is appointed,” Abramson said. “I would think practically whoever gets appointed … wouldn’t want to chance it if he or she had intentions to run, with this bill out there. Also, even if the appointment occurred before the effective date of this bill, the appointee might have to resign once this bill becomes effective if he or she wants to run.”

Second District Assessor Claude Mauberret has withdrawn from the March 6 runoff to become New Orleans’ first citywide assessor, saying “the numbers are just not there” and that he wanted to avoid a racially polarized runoff against Second District Assessor Erroll Williams. Mauberret’s withdrawal automatically results in Williams’ election. Williams, who is black, has served as the Third District assessor since the mid-1980s. Mauberret, who is white, has represented the Second District for almost 16 years.

Williams finished first in the Feb. 6 primary with 45 percent of the vote, followed by Mauberret with 25.5 percent of the vote. Mauberret narrowly beat out deputy Sixth District Assessor Janis Lemle, who carried the “reform” mantle in that race and garnered 24.5 percent of the vote.

“Since [the Feb. 6 primary], I have spent many hours reviewing precinct returns with my advisors and key supporters in an effort to chart a winning strategy,” Mauberret said in a statement. “After much deliberation, I have concluded that it would be in the best interests of my friends, my supporters, my family and my city not to contest the runoff. I do this with mixed feelings.

“Assessor Erroll Williams has been a friend and colleague throughout my public career, and I did not look forward to a bruising campaign against someone for whom I have a great deal of personal and professional regard. Although my supporters encouraged me to soldier on, the reality is that the numbers are just not there for me to justify asking my family, my friends and my supporters to put forth the kind of effort required to win. In addition, despite the friendship that Erroll and I share, I fear that others would cast this election in racial terms and try to divide our citizens, who came together in unprecedented fashion on Feb. 6 across racial, geographic, party and socio-economic lines. I love my city too much to let anything threaten this historic time of unity.”

Mauberret carried a plurality of the white vote in the primary, and Williams won a plurality of the African-American vote. Mauberret’s statement echoes sentiments reflected by state Sen. Ed Murray when he withdrew from the mayor’s race in early January. Murray cited potential racial divisions in a runoff against Mitch Landrieu for his decision to drop out of the mayor’s race.

I’ve been trying to get my head around the fact that the Saints actually won the Super Bowl ever since the on-sides kick heard ’round the world and Tracy Porter’s immortal pick six. It’s as if everything that happened has been repeating itself on a video loop in slow motion in my mind — and also right in front of me at the same time. It just hasn’t sunk in yet.

THE SAINTS HAVE WON THE S-U-P-E-R B-O-W-L!

No matter how many times I say it or hear it, I just can’t grasp the enormity of it. Tears won’t do it justice, no matter how long and often they flow. And words? Well, fuggetaboutit.

Then I started thinking about other great comebacks, other great but unlikely heroes, and I immediately thought of Seabiscuit, the unlikeliest thoroughbred champion of all time — and, fittingly, “the people’s champion.” Seabiscuit was small, knobby-kneed and had a funny (i.e. defective) gait, but the little bay colt was all heart — much like our Saints, and very much like our QB, Drew Brees.

The Saints’ victory last night over the Colts was, in so many ways, the NFL equivalent of Seabiscuit’s 1938 match-race victory over War Admiral. The imposing War Admiral had won the Triple Crown a year earlier and came from one of America’s most prestigious racing stables. Seabiscuit was a cast-off, the scorn of racing’s cognoscenti, hobbled by adversity and injuries, trained by an unorthodox nobody, and ridden by a half-crippled, washed-up, too-tall-to-ride and blind-in-one-eye jockey. Like the Saints and New Orleans, Seabiscuit and his teammates leaned on each other. Like the Saints have become America’s team, Seabiscuit became America’s horse. Both are perfect symbols of the triumph of the underdog.

Fittingly, Seabiscuit’s match race against War Admiral occurred on November 1, which, as all Saints fans know, is also the birthday of our beloved team. Seabiscuit defied all the odds and won that race by dint of old-fashioned hard work, preparation, and grit. Likewise, Drew Brees out-performed our beloved native son Payton Manning (of whom I am a devoted, lifelong fan) through hard work, preparation, and grit. And one more thing: Like Seabiscuit, Drew Brees is ALL HEART. We Saints fans saw it all season long, and the world saw it in the glow of victory last night, as he held up his son while his eyes glistened over with tears and he dedicated the victory to the people of New Orleans.

New Orleans, that most un-American of cities, has given the nation America’s Team. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to shake Drew Brees’ hand, but if I do, I’m just gonna say, “Thanks, Seabiscuit.”

Wow, what a night! The 2010 citywide elections could signal a turning point in New Orleans politics, much like the 1969 elections. Interestingly, the ’69 race gave us Mayor Moon Landrieu and the ascendency of black political power in New Orleans. This time we’re getting Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the beginning — many hope — of post-racial politics in our city. It’s too early to tell for sure if that’s the case, but the early signs are encouraging.

Here are my observations after sleeping off a hangover and going to Mass to pray for Da Saints:

• It was not about race. What Mitch Landrieu did was amazing enough — winning an “open” mayoral race (i.e., one without an incumbent running) in the primary — but HOW he did it was even more amazing. He is not only the first mayor in modern history to capture a majority of the votes in an open primary, but he’s also the first mayor in all of New Orleans history to win any race with solid majorities among white and black voters. In the past, winning mayors got a huge majority of the votes among one race and enough of a minority among the other to win — but never a big majority among BOTH. Landrieu did that last night, and it portends (I hope) a seismic shift in New Orleans’ political paradigm. That shift is a movement away from racial voting patterns and toward post-racial politics, very much akin to what President Barack Obama did on the national scene. Does it mean race will never matter? No. But hopefully it means that race won’t matter so much. Consider the next point along with this one …

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[This is a longer version of my Gambit column, which will appear in print on Sunday, Feb. 7 — the day the Saints win their first of several Super Bowl titles.]

Back in 1985, when then-Mayor Dutch Morial was making one last effort to change the City Charter so that he could run for “Just 3” terms as mayor, I introduced visiting NBC correspondent Ken Bode to one of Morial’s confidants, a rotund political operative named Maurice “Hippo” Katz.

“So tell me, Hippo,” Bode asked, “what job will you be getting in the third Morial Administration if this thing passes?”

Hippo, who stood all of about 5 feet 8 inches, drew himself up and said, without missing beat, “Mr. Bode, I don’t want a job … I want a position.”

The response was vintage Hippo — and vintage New Orleans politics. Bode still tells that anecdote whenever the subject of New Orleans comes up. When I called him last week to tell him that Hippo Katz had died at his home the night before, we shared a bittersweet chuckle at that and other Hippo stories. He was one of a kind.

A Runyonesque character who never forgot that the essence of politics is people, Hippo had a heart as big as himself. He liked everybody, and everybody liked him. He had a great laugh, and he laughed often — a high-pitched, almost childishly giddy, “Hee-hee-hee-hee!” As much as he enjoyed the game, Hippo took politics seriously. He had a great mind for it, not just for numbers and analysis, but also for people.

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[Note to readers: The post below is my column for this week’s issue of Gambit. Immediately following is a full set of Troy Henry’s responses to the attacks, from an interview I did with him on Friday, Jan. 22. For reasons of space, I was not able to include all his comments in the Gambit column. — Clancy]

Greek lore tells us that the Siege of Troy lasted 10 years. In New Orleans politics, a week of sustained attacks can seem like a decade. Just ask mayoral candidate Troy Henry.

Henry has been under siege on several fronts in recent weeks, culminating in a barrage of criticism this past week from respected African-American figures and attack ads from one opponent. His critics say he brought it on himself. He says they’re all in cahoots with his real adversary, frontrunner Mitch Landrieu, and that he’s not letting it get to him. He’s also firing back.

The most public — and perhaps most damaging — criticism came from the family of the late Dutch Morial, New Orleans’ first black mayor. Henry’s campaign Web site recently carried a video tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King. The tribute, written by Henry’s son, included a family photo of the candidate’s late grandfather, longshoremen’s union leader Clarence “Chink” Henry, with MLK and local civil rights pioneers — including Dutch Morial. Another Henry family photo depicted the candidate’s mother, who was recently named Xavier University’s alumna of the year, with Xavier President Dr. Norman Francis and Civil Sheriff Paul Valteau. More than 100 photos appeared in the tribute.

Morial’s widow, Sybil Morial, fired off a letter to Henry rebuking him for using her late husband’s photo on a political Web site without first asking permission to do so. The Morial family “has never consented to the use of my late husband’s image, voice or likeness in campaign advertising, other than for the political organization he founded, the Louisiana Independent Federation of Electors (LIFE),” she wrote. A Morial family confidant told me afterward that even Marc Morial, who served as mayor from 1994-2002, refrained from using his late father’s image in his campaigns.

In her letter to Henry, which was released to the media, Mrs. Morial concluded, “We are offended by the lack of professionalism and respect of Mr. Henry’s campaign.”

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[This is an early posting of my Gambit political column coming out next week.]

The sprint to the Feb. 6 citywide primary officially got underway when state Sen. Ed Murray pulled out of the mayor’s race on Jan. 2. Make no mistake about it, this mayor’s race is a five-week sprint, not an extended campaign. Everything that happened in 2009 was just a warm-up.

Overall, the events of the past week and a half remind me of some wisdom I got long ago from the late Jim Carvin, who handled the winning media for 10 consecutive mayoral elections. “Every election is a unique event,” Jim said.

As candidates, citizens and pundits eye the current election, we should keep Carvin’s wisdom in mind. Ironically, were Carvin still with us, he would be among the first to draw upon the lessons of the past in his attempts to shape the present and the future.

Let’s examine recent events in chronological order, starting with Murray’s exit.

At the end of the day, Murray concluded either that he couldn’t win or that he wasn’t prepared to do what was necessary to win. His biggest mistake was not what he did but how he did it. Murray is taking a lot of hits now in the black community, but the truth is his departure actually helps Troy Henry, who appears to have inherited (or seized) the mantle of the black frontrunner.

Think about it: Now there are only three black candidates as opposed to four. Had Murray stayed in the race, black votes would have been more divided and the dreaded prospect of two whites making the runoff (which I never though would happen, by the way) would have loomed larger. Those in the black community who want to “preserve the Franchise” now have a candidate (in Henry) with the kind of fire that Murray lacked from the outset.

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State Sen. Ed Murray’s withdrawal from the mayor’s race was the latest — and biggest — surprise in a contest that already has had more than its share of unexpected twists and turns. Here’s my take on what happened, why, who benefits, what’s next, and what it means in the long run:

What Happened

Murray’s campaign team had a meeting last Wednesday (Dec. 30) to review fresh poll numbers by Silas Lee and to discuss finances and strategy. The poll had Murray in low double digits but with potential to grow among black voters, most of whom (around 55 percent) were voting for frontrunner Mitch Landrieu. The lieutenant governor’s numbers in this poll showed him ahead by a large margin, with nearly 50 percent of the vote. When you account for the fact that “undecided” respondents in a poll tend not to vote, Landrieu already has a majority of the decided vote. Of course, that could change, but that’s where things stood last week.

The feeling among some of Murray’s top advisers was that, while much of Landrieu’s black support was rooted in a genuine sense of “buyers’ remorse” after Ray Nagin’s dismal performance over the past four years, a lot of that support was “soft” and could be peeled off Landrieu. It would require, however, that Murray attack Landrieu. It also would require Murray to raise another $400,000 to $700,000 to position himself to make a March 6 runoff. Murray already had loaned his campaign several hundred thousand dollars, and the message to him was that he might have to put more of his personal funds into the effort.

After Wednesday’s meeting, several of Murray’s top campaign folks began raising money and devising a strategy to go after Landrieu. There was even some hope that Orleans DA Leon Cannizzaro might endorse Murray, and soon, which would give his campaign a boost.

Murray himself, however, was not comfortable turning the race into another contest about race. He spent the next few days doing a gut check and decided on Saturday that he wasn’t going to play a race card just to get elected. Once he made up his mind about that, he moved quickly to get out — surprising even some of his closest friends and supporters. He did not consult with his top campaign strategists before making up his mind to get out.

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