The first New Orleans mayor's race after the horrors of Hurricane Katrina has an intriguing racial undercurrent: How will a black mayor elected with strong white support fare against numerous white challengers while much of the city's black electorate is displaced?... "Among the opportunities the city has to experience here is what happens when people pull away from that dynamic," said Keith Woods, dean of the nonprofit Poynter Institute and a former city editor at The Times-Picayune. "The racial politics have been this way since toward the end of white dominance (of office-holding) and through the last few decades of black dominance. The opportunity here is to see a different side of politics than the city has seen in recent years." The fundamental question is: Can a black mayor who is not widely popular among black voters get the bulk of the black vote?... "There will be black people who will vote for Nagin who didn't vote for him before and who wouldn't be voting for him this time if it were not for the feeling that their city is being taken away," Woods said...More of this article...Search Google News for more quotes by Keith Woods...
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