Mitch Landrieu targeted by rivals in televised forum
by Frank Donze - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

With the window about to close on their opportunity to sway an electorate gripped by New Orleans Saints fever, the major candidates for mayor threw caution to the wind Thursday night, using the final televised forum of the campaign season to pile on front-runner Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu. (James) Perry also took a dig at Landrieu and Couhig, who four years ago tried unsuccessfully to unseat Mayor Ray Nagin, who is barred by term limits from seeking re-election. "In 2006, there was a divisive racial campaign, and what resulted was that we had the highest murder rate in the nation, more blight than any other city in the nation," he said. "So we have to come together around race." Meanwhile, Henry, who in recent weeks has raised concerns about whether it's "unhealthy" for a majority-black city to be run largely by white officials, proposed healing racial divisions by improving the economy. "Today, most people don't have a living wage, and when they don't have a living wage, they strike out, they blame others for their problems," he said. Ramsey also said the racial divide can be healed by "fairness in the media," a reference to a WWL poll released late last month that showed Landrieu with 45 percent of the vote with a margin of sampling error of 4.4. The survey was conducted by the Washington, D.C., firm of political consultant Ron Faucheux, who worked Sen. Landrieu from 2005 to 2007. "That's not fairness," Ramsey said. "That's not fair reporting."