A Democrat can't win... or can she?
by Stephanie Grace - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

It's hard to dream up a scenario in which the GOP could lose the overwhelmingly conservative 1st Congressional District, which has been sending Republicans to Congress for decades now.

But there is one potential turn of events Republicans are acting to avert: that they could unintentionally give it away.

Democratic political newcomer Gilda Reed, who'll face veteran GOP legislator Steve Scalise in the general election May 3, is still a towering longshot.

Few analysts have taken her candidacy seriously, and that includes the national Democratic Party, which is making a big play for the Baton Rouge-based 6th District but basically conceding the 1st. It's nothing personal. Reed seems to be concerned and competent, and she's run a feisty campaign. It's just that this district is hardwired to vote Republican.

That is, when it votes at all. And there's the rub.