N’awlins (that’s New Orleans for those of you not schooled in Southern speech) Mayor Ray Nagin has been re-elected. He defeated runoff challenger, Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu (brother of US Senator Mary Landrieu...keeping that all in the family!), 52.9 percent to 47.1 percent. Normally this would be a “so what” moment, but here’s what got me:

“I want the city to come back,” said 61-year-old Alice Howard, an evacuee who returned by bus from Houston to cast her ballot. “This is my city. This is home to me....I want to make sure the correct person takes care of home.” [Emphasis added by Editor]

I wonder if I...and by extension, YOU the American Taxpayer, paid for Ms. Howard’s bus ticket home? Haven’t Louisianans heard of an absentee ballot? Or does their French civil law preclude that? I wonder.