Racing to run a city that is not

Politics | It’s the candidates who did not make New Orleans’ runoff election roster—conservatives—who can swing mayoral results. But will the voters show? | Lynn Vincent

So prepared were Louisiana's 2,000 election workers for the hot-button mayoral election in New Orleans on April 22 that nothing caught them by surprise—not even when lights went out at Baptist Theological Seminary. A sudden power outage brought voting to a halt at the school, one among scores of polling places where 108,153 ballots were cast on Election Day. But, anticipating just such an emergency, Louisiana secretary of state Al Ater had already ordered hotlines connecting polling sites with the power company; at the seminary, voters stayed put and in only 40 minutes, balloting resumed.

Whether Mayor Ray Nagin will stay put, though, remains an open question, one that hangs on a complex mix of issues including economics, key endorsements, a far-flung electorate, and the fickle dynamics of runoff elections. Race, meanwhile, may now be the least important factor of all.