Jefferson Loses In Louisiana

This is a real surprise. Both the pundits and the polls failed to predict the loss of this African-American Democrat in an overwhelmingly African-American congressional district. William Jefferson was the incumbent Democrat in Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District, and was expected to win re-election pretty easily -- but it didn't happen.

I'm never happy to see a Republican win, but I am glad to see Jefferson defeated and out of Congress. That's because he was a blight on the face of the Democratic Party. The nine-term congressman was indicted on corruption charges three years ago, and is still awaiting trial. In 2005, the FBI found $90,000 in his home freezer.

I had hoped Jefferson would lose in the Democratic primary in 2006, but I guess his constituents weren't ready to believe he had betrayed their trust. But after seeing an African-American sent to the White House by voters of all races and seeing the Democrats had a hefty majority in the House of Representatives, the voters of the 2nd District decided race wasn't as important as cleaning house was this year.

Jefferson lost to Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao -- an attorney and community organizer. Cao becomes the first Vietnamese-American elected to serve in the United States House of Representatives.

I hope Cao makes the most of his two-year term, because that is likely all he will have. It is extremely likely that Democrats will elect an honest African-American candidate in the 2010 primary, and he will cruise to victory in the November election. At least, I hope so.

In the meantime, I applaud the voters of the 2nd District for dumping the criminal Jefferson.