If you care to examine the statistics, you will see that it was not Landrieu's Orleans Parish vote that won it for her. Her plurality in 2002 was 80,000 votes in Orleans Parish. In 1996, her plurality in Orleans Parish was 100,000 votes. And in 1996, she won by only 5700. In 2002, she won by nearly 40,000. The fact is Jenkins did far better in the rest of the state than did Terrell. Landrieu did better this time in Acadiana among white democrats because of the sugar issue. And she did better in North Louisiana in the very conservative 5th District. New Orleans was overall a disappointment for Landrieu compared to 1996.
Blaming the loss on New Orleans is like a Democrat blaming the 2000 presidential election on the fact that Bush carried Indiana and Texas.
Ah, but I do not seek it as an excuse. Read the history of this discussion. You will find that mac_truck has been arguing that the non-black voters outside of Orleans parish voted in a majority for Mary Landrieu and that is simply not so. While it is true that the majority in the rest of the state was too slim to overcome New Orleans' solid Democrat majority, it is not deniable that the majority elsewhere in the state, although slim, favored Terrell.