New Orleans Reporting

[phantom22]

This was a calculated move to reduce the number of those who vote for Democrats in Louisiana. This scenario is pure Rove. Just watch in the next election Sen. Landrieu will lose to the Republican. The vote was close last time.

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I KNEW that the delay was a political tactic by Karl Rove. We will see the Louisiana governor and US Senate offices in the Republican column next election. This President and his crew call themselves Christians (with the exception of the Jewish Neo-cons). Since when is delaying disaster assistance Christian? It is time to give the President a pink slip.

 

 

Katrina might affect Louisiana politics

Texas could see influx of Democrats, analysts say

 

Sunday, September 11, 2005; Posted: 2:27 p.m. EDT (18:27 GMT)

 

 

Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, will run for re-election in 2008.

 

 

Louisiana

Texas

Democratic Party

Mary L. Landrieu

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Population shifts caused by the exodus of hurricane victims from the Gulf Coast could have ripple effects for years to come in Louisiana political races and perhaps beyond.

 

How big depends on how many people stay away, which ones stay away and where they end up putting down roots.

 

The early thinking is that the evacuees least likely to return to their homes in Louisiana may be the poorest -- and thus, Democrats for the most part. That would hurt the party in a state where Republicans already were making inroads.

 

If the lion's share of those leaving settle in Texas, that could work to the advantage of Democrats in President Bush's home state.

 

"I'm believing that the greatest displacement occurs among those who are traditionally Democratic voters," said Elliott Stonecipher, an independent political consultant from Shreveport, Louisiana.

 

"Based on sheer demographics, those who are Republican voters have the wherewithal and, we believe, the will to go home and rebuild," he said.

 

Stonecipher sees the New Orleans area losing Democratic voters and a political network that was of great benefit to Sen. Mary Landrieu and other Democrats.

 

"On Election Day there is a well-oiled machine that knows how to turn those votes out from specific neighborhoods and in specific ways," Stonecipher said.

 

Landrieu was elected in a 2002 runoff by just 42,000 votes (52 percent to 48 percent). New Orleans was the base of her support.

 

"If that's compromised, that could be a problem for her," said John Maginnis, who publishes a political newsletter in Louisiana.

 

Landrieu is not up for re-election until 2008. Kathleen Blanco, the Democratic governor, who also won by four percentage points (52-48), faces re-election in 2007.

 

Ray Nagin, the Democratic mayor of New Orleans, is up for re-election in February. No one knows if the city could even hold an election by then.

 

Overall, said Maginnis, Republicans have made gains in Louisiana in recent years and "the effects of the storm aftermath probably will help them." President Bush carried the state in 2000 and 2004; Democrat Bill Clinton did so in the previous two presidential elections.

 

Still, demographic shifts within the state could work to the Democrats' advantage in some cases, Maginnis said.

 

For example, if the sizable evacuee population now in Baton Rouge, the capital, decides to settle in, that could make the 6th Congressional District, a politically competitive one held by GOP Rep. Richard Baker, more Democratic.

 

In Texas, which stands to gain the largest number of evacuees, analysts do not expect much impact on statewide races. But local races -- for everything from school boards to legislative seats and perhaps even congressional districts -- could be affected.

 

The place to watch is Houston, which has taken in the most evacuees, at least temporarily.

 

Richard Murray, director of the Center for Public Policy at the University of Houston, said Republicans hold every elective office in Harris County, which takes in most of Houston, but did not win by much.

 

"This could accelerate the tipping of the county, which was expected to happen in the next four to six years," he said.

 

While politics is taking a back seat for now to the urgent needs of the hurricane victims, "my Democratic friends are smiling," Murray said.

 

Bob Stein, professor of political science at Rice University in Houston, said the political impact on Texas depends in large part on how concentrated or widely dispersed the evacuees are.

 

He noted that sprawling Houston is one of the nation's least segregated big cities because it has no zoning laws, so hurricane victims could well be broadly scattered, diluting their impact in any particular race.

 

In any event, though, with Texas' Hispanic population surging and its black population growing faster than the white population, demographic shifts already are pushing the state toward the Democrats. Relocation of evacuees could help hasten the trend.

 

"Our politics may be Republican," Stein said, "but that's just a temporary condition."

 

The thought is echoed by David Bositis, a senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank focused on black issues. He said adding a substantial number of blacks to the state could "potentially make Texas more competitive in the not-too-distant future."

 

As for Louisiana, Bositis said, "If proportionally more whites come back than blacks, it'll make Louisiana somewhat whiter, which would statewide be to the advantage of the Republicans." But he, like other political analysts, said it will take time to see where evacuees end up settling and how many ultimately return home.

 

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Edited September 11, 2005 by phantom22

[MosJan]

ARMENIA ALLOTS $200,000 IN ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS OF KATRINA HURRICANE

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS: The Armenian government approved on Thursday $200,000 in assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Deputy foreign minister Arman Kirakossian said the money will be released from government's reserve fund and will be transferred on a special US government bank account early next week.

Kirakosian said it will take the US government a long time to recover the area hit by the disaster, adding also that the Armenian government is ready to provide another assistance, should the US government ask for it. He said Armenia had offered rescuers, doctors in the first days of the disaster. He said though Armenia's assistance is modest and symbolic in view of the magnitude of damages assessed at around $100 billion, but 'it is very important for Armenia to demonstrate its solidarity with the people of USA, because they were among the first nations to rush to help Armenians in the aftermath of 1988 earthquake that destroyed northern parts of the country."

He also recalled that Armenia has been one of the world's leading per-capita recipients of U.S. economic assistance that has totaled $1.6 billion since its independence. In a related development, Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in the USA, issued a new directive to local parish leaders on September 7, further outlining relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina.

In the directive, the Primate asked local parishes to conduct two special plate collections during services on September 11 and 18. Half of the money raised will go towards relief efforts being conducted by Church World Service and the other half will go directly to the Armenian Church of Baton Rouge to be distributed to parishioners in the New Orleans area as needed.

[Azat]

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1434223