Call for nominations

With the 2006 municipal campaign coming into the home stretch, I thought now would be a good time to open nominations for the most memorable ad or moment of the primary season award. Fundraising is now underway to present the candidate responsible for the winning item with a bag of Hershey's Chocolate Kisses. I'll begin the process with a few of my personal favorites.

• "Batt at the Breach" A Sal Palmisano radio ad spoofing the old Pontchartrain Beach jingle while playing off of the fact that Jay Batt didn't show for a rally at the 17th street canal breach site. A cheap shot.. but quite clever. Here are the lyrics provided by the T-P

  "At the breach, at the breach, where was Batt, at the breach," the revised jingle goes. "It seems Jay went away and was way out of reach! Sal would have been your pal at the 17th Street Canal, but why wasn't Batt at the breach? Was he a sandbag? Without much hesitation, he left the devastation, so why wasn't Batt at the breach?"



• The swift-boat ads run against sheriff Marlin Gusman by his opponent Gerald Desalvo. Gusman began the campaign touting his role in successfully evacuating Orleans Parish Prison during the flood. Desalvo then became the first local politician to employ the now famous swift-boat strategy for attacking your opponent's supposed strenghts. The attack ad featured what we assume to be sheriff's department employees, their faces and voices obscured who accuse Gusman of covering up a botched evacuation. The T-P's endorsement of Gusman refutes the swift-boat claim. Of course we are invited to assume the T-P to be an unbiased information source here.. something of a stretch. Regardless of who or what you believe, I find the cut-and-paste use of a strategy that was effective in the Presidential race, notable.


• Quentin Brown's home made signs. I have a photo of one of the "I care about U" signs. I'll post it later if I get the chance. I can't find anyone with the "No B/S" version. And there it is.


• "I rebuke you"


• Crazy Kim goes to prison; Crazy Kim goes to Disneyland; Crazy Kim announces for mayor on the courthouse steps; I don't know.. pick your own Crazy Kim moment


• "Don't touch me"

Submit your nominees in comments. Good luck to all.

Update: Oyster nominates Manny Bruno's NOLA.com interview... which is hilarious. One thing that makes this race great is the way the unintentional humor of the serious candidates overshadows the antics of the guy who's in it for the yuks.

Also you may notice that Nagin's "Chocolate city" speech is not a nominee. This is intentional because it is so high profile that I'm afraid it would so overshadow the other gems here that no one would come away with a clear understanding of what makes Louisiana politics the high theater that it is. However, because the Mayor's infamous brush with deliciousness does encapsulate the spirit of what we're trying to highlight here I have not only named Hershey's Kisses as the grand prize of the event.. I am also officially deeming the entire pageant the Chocolate City Awards.

Update 2: Ashley points out that you can listen to "Batt at the Breach" online here.