Got a little hopped up on making and eating latkes last night, but I did take a little time to listen in on the first mayoral debate through WWNO online (you can watch it here if you wanna) and commiserate with some folks on the Tweeter Tube whilst the whole shebang was going on. The deja vu all over again permeated the whole exercise, with some twists of an "herbal" nature. We are no better off than we were before the 2006 election, and the cast of characters involved in this year's circus are largely recycling the same tired platitudes and promises when I wish they'd have instated recycling as part of our trash pickup four years ago. Nobody really knows how City Hall works (or, if they do, they're not telling us), and Norman Robinson went for the entertainment value of getting these candidates in a police lineup atmosphere in which they were allowed to run their mouths - only things missing were the lines on the wall telling us how tall these people were.

After hosting my latke blowout, I hied myself back to Twitter, played Ed McMahon to Jeffrey's Johnny Carson and got picked on for being a NOLA political nerd *sniff*. But I am not as nerdy as the following folks about this go-round, I can tell you that.

G-Bitch
Cliff
E - first impressions, and analysis
Adrastos
Kevin's reporter's notebook
The yaller blogger, aka, Heeeere's Johnny
Alex Woodward on Thomas "Not In My House" Lambert

Overwhelming first impression - there will be one bumper sticker concerning this election that will overshadow 'em all:

Don't Blame Me. I Moved Out Of The City.

Update, 12:46 PM: Don't miss Mominem's ultimate candidate resource of the mayoral hopefuls AND the city council runners.

Anudder update, 1:47 PM: Adrastos has more on the Norman Robinson Show and its participants.

One mo' time, 8:14 PM: The yaller blogger gives the debate the Lester Bangs treatment, minus the psychotic reactions and carburetor dung. And Leslie Jacobs is the first casualty after the qualifying deadline.