[Darlin']

""It just got out of control," said Silas Lee, a sociologist at Xavier University in New Orleans. "African American voters wanted a more positive message."

Really ? I wonder how he'd explain the signs in some predominately black, New Orleans neighborhoods that read: Mary, if you don't respect us, don't expect us.

[kms61]

Well, actually, the rumor going around is that those signs were also put out by Republicans to depress the black vote. Whether there's any truth to it or not, the fact is that blacks turned out for Landrieu, and Terrell got fewer votes in many of her core precincts than she did in the primary.

Folks here are trying to spin this as a moral victory or whatever, but the fact remains, that there were two elections here that were there for the taking, and the Republican party lost both of them. Folks can make excuses, charge fraud, and try to convince themselves it was really a moral victory--and a lot of posters on FR are doing just that--or they can 1) Own up to the fact that the Republican candidates could have run much more effective campaigns 2) admit that were outworked by their opponents, and that their base didn't turn out in the numbers necessary for victor, and 3) try to learn something from the defeat and move on.