The NY Times Profiles Nagin

The keepin' it real candidate:

His style baffles outsiders, but within New Orleans, Mayor C. Ray Nagin's exclamations and expletives, his "doggones" and dropped g's, are instantly accessible.

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Unlike in the scandal-plagued administrations of his predecessors, Marc Morial and Sidney Barthelemy, the odor of favoritism, patronage, and sweetheart contracts has been largely absent from City Hall for four years. Mr. Nagin, who was a largely unknown cable television executive at the time, came into office promising to be an amateur in a city where politics has been practiced as a refined and Machiavellian art.

That amateur's guise is still novel enough here, and credible enough in the case of Mr. Nagin, to serve as the central plank in a mysterious re-election effort that involves little in the way of money, advertising or campaign organization.

Nagin’s laid back attitude during this election reminds me of a song of my youth:

[Parental Warning: Explicit Lyrics]

Intro by Da Po’ Boy:

Here's a lil mayor, tall in size
An amateur guise is his only disguise
Built like a tank yet hard to hit
City Hall and Eazy Ray cold runnin shit

Eazy Ray rocks the mic:

Well I'm Eazy Ray the one they're talkin about
Katrina tried to roll the dice and just crapped out
Police tried to roll, so it's time to go
I creeped away real slow and jumped in the six-fo'
Wit the "Diamond in the back, sun-roof top"
Diggin the scene with the Nagin lean
Cause I'm the Ray, I don't slang or bang
I just smoke motherfuckers like it ain't no thang
And all you Landrieus, you know I'm talkin to you
"We want to fuck you Ray!" I want to fuck you too
Cause you see, I don't really take no shit
[So let me tell you motherfuckers who you're fuckin with]
Cause I'm the type of mayor that's built to last
If you Fuck wit me, I'll put my foot in your ass
I don't give a fuck, cause I keep bailin
Yo, what the fuck are they yellin?

Chorus:

Nagin, Nagin! That's what they're yellin
"It's not about a salary, it's all about reality" - KRS One
Nagin, Nagin! That's what they're yellin
"He'll fuck up you and yours, and anything that gets in his way"

NWA – Nagin with Attitude.