What happens here may not stay here

Wesley Pruden
November 23, 2007

NEW ORLEANS. -- The politicians and the pundits are still sorting through last week's municipal election returns, and the results hint at consequences reaching far beyond the bayous.

These are the first really significant election returns since Hurricane Katrina blew away life as New Orleans had known it for a long time. An older white woman, "the rusted steel magnolia," defeated an attractive young black woman, "the black Scarlett O'Hara," to complete a sweep of two at-large seats on the city council and return control of the city government, held for two decades by blacks. The magnolia — steel or not, rusty or not — won with black "crossover" votes.