(VERY) EARLY MORNING LINE: MAYOR RACE
Times-Picayune (excerpt)

In what amounts to little more than a gauge of name recognition, the first voter survey before the 2010 mayor's race is out.

Pollster Verne Kennedy, who sampled 400 registered voters for a group of business people he declined to identify, provided a list of mostly familiar names to choose from for a job that no one, as of yet, is officially seeking.

Running at the head of a trial heat with 45 percent was Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who failed in his bid to unseat Mayor Ray Nagin in 2006. Landrieu, who easily won a second term as the state's No. 2 official last fall, has given no indication that he wants another shot at the City Hall job.

Finishing second with 21 percent was City Council President Arnie Fielkow, who associates say is considering a mayoral bid.

Scoring in single digits in the April 25-26 survey were District C Councilman James Carter, 5 percent; lawyer and 2006 mayoral also-ran Rob Couhig, 4 percent; Roy Glapion, a businessman and son of a former city councilman, 3 percent; and state Sen. Ed Murray, 2 percent.

The poll, which had an error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points, found that 20 percent of the respondents are undecided.