Are they holding the debate without Jefferson?

I got this in my inbox from Mary Landrieu...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives today passed final legislation that includes the Domenici-Landrieu Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, S. 3711, which opens substantial new areas to oil and natural gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and shares billions of dollars in revenues with Louisiana and other energy-producing Gulf Coast states for coastal wetlands restoration, hurricane protection and flood control projects. An additional share will be used to build parks and preserve green spaces in all 50 states. The package also includes several key tax provisions, including a two-year extension of the Gulf Opportunity (GO) Zone tax incentive that provides strong motivation to invest in the Gulf Coast .

"A mighty hurdle was cleared for Louisiana and the Gulf Coast today when the House passed the Domenici-Landrieu plan as part of a final legislative package," Sen. Landrieu said. "After almost 60 years, Louisiana will finally receive a fair share of the oil and gas revenues produced off our shores. This dedicated revenue stream is necessary to restore our coastal wetlands, build levees and construct an effective flood control system - all of which will fend off hurricanes rising in the Gulf.

"This victory for Louisiana demonstrates how successful we can be when we work as a team and keep our focus. The Louisiana congressional delegation and Governor Kathleen Blanco, Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu and many local officials, business leaders and civic groups never stopped working to achieve this goal. Numerous groups have been essential to this effort, including America's WETLAND Campaign to Save Coastal Louisiana, Parishes Against Coastal Erosion, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Women of the Storm, Levees.org, Coast Guardians as well as national groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council, the Consumer Alliance for Energy Security, the Agriculture Energy Alliance and countless others."

I'm sure this bill is chock-a-block full of bad tax details but I'm very happy for Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. They wanted this bill and they got it and that's the first pure positive from the Federal govt. since Katrina hit the region.

90k Bill. I mean afterall, they did find 90k in his freezer. It's short and simple.

I found some links and put them up. Official reason is Jefferson could not return from DC in time for the debate.

http://bluesunbelt.com/showDiary.do?diar yId=43

Not agreeing to have him to participate by teleconference, especially when it already delayed because of a vote on a bill positively (hopefully) affects Louisiana.

So now, one of the last impressions of Jefferson voters are left with is that of a public servant working flat out to bring in this bill for the state, so much so that he missed the very debates he really, really wanted (I am correct that he was the one to insist on them in the first place?).

Many Louisianans seem to hate both of these people, for good (if different) reasons... be interesting to see who wins and what effect that overall unpopularity with the various constituencies has on their future actions, if any.

Might it still be possible to reschedule the debate?

Exactly when does the election take place, anyway?

Sounds like Carter was the one that cancelled the Debate.

If Jefferson offered to debate, albeit by phone with legit excuse, then there was no reason for Carter to refuse. By refusing to accept the reality of legislative life, it calls to question her confidence in her own debate performance.

She loses points with me. Jefferson at least offered a solution to a bad situation. He, however, can't earn any real points with me no matter what...he needs to go.

I'll repeat my earlier comments from yesterday or so and predict he will win the race. Too bad but odds are, according to very experienced Louisiana people on scene, that's what will happen.

Then, hopefully, he'll be indicted etc. and we can have an Open Race.

After Katrina I updated all my cellphones to Internet capable ones. They are more limited than laptops in what you can do but are indispensable when you cannot otherwise connect to the Internet.