(20 May 2006)
1. Early morning, voters heading to polls
2. Car driving past rubble in 9th ward
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) John Brown, voter:
" Terribly important for New Orleans especially in light of what happened in Katrina, we have an important decision to make for the future of this city. "
4. Various of voting
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Arthur Hill, voter:
" We need strong leadership to bring the city back and I feel who I voted for is going to do that."
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jasin Mason, voter:
"we're like in a crisis and we have to get the city to move forward and that's why I'm out here, early."
7. Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu talking to media
8. Mayor Ray Nagin enters polling booth, shakes hands with workers
9. Mitch Landrieu outside voting centre hugging woman
10. Nagin walking to car
AP File-May 15 2006
11. Various of Hurricane Katrina damage around New Orleans
STORYLINE:
Voters in New Orleans headed to the polls on Saturday to decide whether to re-elect Mayor Ray Nagin or to support Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu in an election which will help determine the course of one of the largest reconstruction projects in United States history.
The winner will start his four-year term just one day before hurricane season begins June 1.
When a polling venue handling more than 40 precincts opened on Saturday morning, the line was about 20 deep and moved swiftly once voting began.
After that, a steady trickle of voters entered.
Both candidates Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu and incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin said they felt good about their chances but neither would predict the outcome.
Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu would become the city's first white mayor in 28 years if elected.
Nagin predicted black voters and conservative white voters, many of whom supported him in 2002 but defected to other candidates in the April primary, would come together to support him.
Fewer than half of New Orleans' 465,000 pre-Katrina residents have returned to the city, which remains marred by hollowed out homes and debris nine months after the storm struck and flood walls broke.
Evacuees were being transported by bus from as far as Atlanta and Houston to vote in New Orleans, and many were expected to drive in to cast ballots.
More than 24,000 ballots were cast early by mail or fax or at satellite polling places set up around Louisiana earlier in the month.
The candidates, both Democrats, largely agree on issues, including the right of residents to return to all neighbourhoods, even those far below sea level, and the urgent need for federal aid to speed rebuilding.
As a result, much of the debate has centered on leadership style, with Nagin, a 49-year-old former business executive, trying to cast himself as the man willing to make tough decisions and stand up to federal officials when necessary.
Landrieu, 45, who argues the city lost its credibility nationally and internationally because of its response to Katrina, says his experience bringing people together will be needed to move New Orleans forward.
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