09:14 PM CDT on Saturday, May 20, 2006

Associated Press

AP

Nagin at a rally in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin led Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu in early returns Saturday from a mayoral election between onetime allies with similar ideas but different styles for leading this hurricane-ravaged city through one of the biggest reconstruction projects in U.S. history.

With 4 percent of the vote counted, Nagin had 58 percent, or 1,704 votes, to Landrieu's 42 percent, or 1,222 votes.

Whoever wins takes office a day before the June 1 start of the next hurricane season in a city where streets are still strewn with rusting, mud-covered cars and entire neighborhoods consist of homes that are empty shells.

"I want the city to come back," said 61-year-old Alice Howard, an evacuee who returned by bus from Houston to cast her ballot. "This is my city. This is home to me. ... I want to make sure the correct person takes care of home."

Howard and 250 other evacuees wearing "Displaced Voter" T-shirts were greeted by a jazz band at a City Hall rally with Nagin and Landrieu.

The candidates embraced when they met while campaigning Saturday, reflecting the civil tone of a race where there has been little disagreement on the major issues: the right of residents to rebuild in all areas and the urgent need for federal aid for recovery and the best possible levee protection.

That has turned the closely watched race into a referendum on leadership styles: the brash newcomer incumbent vs. the political establishment challenger.

Nagin, a self-styled maverick, portrayed himself as a political outsider brave enough to stand up to federal officials when necessary. The former cable television executive, first elected to public office in 2002, argued the city could ill-afford to change course just as rebuilding gathered steam.

The janitor's son from a black, working-class neighborhood is known for his improvisational, some say impulsive, rhetoric. After Katrina plunged his city into chaos, Nagin was both scorned and praised for a tearful plea for the federal government to "get off their (behinds) and do something" and his now-famous remark that New Orleans was intended to be a "chocolate" city.

Landrieu, who served 16 years in the state House before being elected to his current post two years ago, says his strength is his ability to bring people together and get things done.

The scion of a political dynasty known as Louisiana's version of the Kennedys, he's the brother of Sen. Mary Landrieu and would be the first white mayor in a generation, since his father, Moon Landrieu, left office in 1978.

Landrieu supporters note New Orleans will largely be rebuilt with federal dollars, and an established politician could have more success in dealing with the leaders who control the purse strings.

Nagin, who had widespread support from white voters four years ago, lost much of that support in last month's primary but was predicting a stronger showing this time.

"The reaction we're getting from out on the streets is very positive among all demographics, all races," he said after voting at his neighborhood precinct. "It's pretty amazing."

Fewer than half of New Orleans' 455,000 pre-Katrina residents are living in the city, and a large number of blacks scattered by the storm have yet to return.

Evacuees arrived by bus from as far as Atlanta and Houston to vote. More than 25,000 ballots were cast early by mail or fax or at satellite polling places set up around Louisiana earlier in the month -- 5,000 more than were cast early in the primary.

Secretary of State Al Ater said late Saturday afternoon that turnout appeared to be on-par with the April 22 primary, when about 37 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

David Postel, a retired Air Force colonel voting in a relatively untouched part of town, said he went with Landrieu because he considers him "the lesser of two evils."

"We're hoping Landrieu has enough political pull to get a little more attention," he said.

Among the first to vote was Willie Solomon, who moved back into the Eighth Ward home where she rode out Hurricane Katrina, even though flood water reached her knees. Her vote was going to Nagin.

"I'm not going to see one family run the whole city," she said.