Residents of Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District finally had a chance to watch their candidates debate on Friday.
The debate was not exactly of prime-time importance, in other words. But the district's incumbent, Republican Ahn "Joseph" Cao, and his Democratic challenger--as well as front-runner-Cedric Richmond did get into some lively verbal sparring over ethics questions. And in so doing, a new twist of sub-plot of the main storyline--one connected to Cao's unlikely taking of the seat in 2008, and his presumed slim chance of keeping it--reared its head at the end of a long, sometimes nasty week of campaigning.
A bit of background seems in order here, at least for readers who do not keep up with the often Byzantine nature of Louisiana politics:
Rep. Cao, as readers of a recent Washington Post Sunday feature might know, is in an odd place, politically. He came out of nowhere in 2008 to win over disgraced incumbent William Jefferson.
He has since been cast as The Lonely Republican. In one particularly confusing display of his allegedly torn nature, he was the lone Republican to vote for the final House version of health care reform bill, although he ultimately rejected the Senate version on the grounds that it would allow federal support for abortion.
The Congressman's loneliness appeared destined to end, however, as the new race got underway, given that Richmond won solid early backing from major, Democratic establishment figures in the New Orleans area, including the Landrieus, Mayor Mitch Landrieu and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, his sister. President Obama also appeared in an ad for Richmond, in an area where the president is still highly popular. Cao, by contrast, won endorsements mainly from officials in largely Republican, neighboring Jefferson Parish, part of which shares the 2nd District with most of Orleans Parish. I
On Sunday Cao attacked his opponent on the corruption charges that have dogged his campaign. Richmond, he reminded debate viewers, was briefly disbarred for living outside of his district when running for the New Orleans City Council in 2005. Cao also noted that Richmond had been fined $2,000 by a state ethics board for failure to disclose adoption cases before taking a job with the state social services agency. He also suggested that Richmond had been arrested in connection with a barfight over a pool match.
Richmond defended himself against that charge, suggesting that the people with whom he fought had used a racial epithet against him before an assault. "When someone is going Mel Gibson on me," the state lawmaker said, "I have to defend myself."
Cao spokesperson Devin Johnson said he believes the previous ethics charges and the pool playing incident are enough to bring up against Richmond when discussing his ethics. Nonetheless, he thinks more questions need to be raised about the challenger's dealings with a now-defunct non-profit known as New Orleans Community Enhancement.
As the debate aired, however, the Richmond juggernaut plows along. Over the weekend, the Democratic nominee aired an ad featuring an endorsement from the popular Mayor Landrieu. Watch it below: