LA-06: Special Election Watch (Updated)

There's a Saturday election today in my home district -- Louisiana's 6th. Dems are very confident they can pick off another GOP-held seat, that formerly won by Richard Baker who abandoned the district to become a million dollar lobbyist.

Republicans are using this special election as a way of gaging how (if) they should use Obama as a negative against Democrats. I can tell you that the last 72 hours has seen virtual carpet-bombing of political ads from both candidates -- Democrat Don Cazayoux and Republican Woody JenKKKins. And, no, that wasn't a typo in JenKKKins' name -- he's widely recognized as a buddy of David Duke.

This is the third election to fill the seat. The first one was the (closed) primary in which Miss Julie and I worked for our friend Andy Kopplin. Then there was the run-off between Cazayoux and state representative Michael Jackson. And now the special election itself. I can tell you that we've voted for three different candidates to get to this point. And there is another set of elections come November. Louisiana loves them some elections!

Speaking of Rep. Jackson, there is some talk that he will urge his black constituency to stay home today and come out for him when (if) he runs as an independent in November. By running as an independent, he can avoid the Democratic primary and just show up on the ballot without the extra election. If they follow his lead, Cazayoux might very well lose today -- and the Democrats could lose a primo opportunity to flip the district.

Adding to the interest is the fact that if Cazayoux loses, the Clinton campaign will use this as proof that Obama can't help down-ticket candidates in the general election come November.

UPDATE: Cazayoux wins!