Unofficial results showed Anh "Joseph" Cao, a Republican attorney, denying Jefferson a 10th term. Faux News


NEW ORLEANS -- Voters in Louisiana ousted indicted Democratic Rep. Jefferson on Saturday, instead electing a Republican attorney who will be the first Vietnamese-American in Congress.

Unofficial results showed Anh "Joseph" Cao denying Jefferson a 10th term.Republicans made an aggressive push to take the seat from the61-year-old incumbent, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, laundering money and misusing his congressional office

Cao, 41, won a predominantly black and heavily Democratic district that covers most of New Orleans.

A barrage of election-day automated telephone calls on Cao's behalf flooded the district, including a pitch from the national Republican Party.

NewOrleans voters had long been loyal to Jefferson, re-electing him in2006 even after news of the bribery scandal broke. Late-night TV comics made him the butt of jokes after federal agents said they found $90,000in alleged bribe money hidden in his freezer.

"Peopleare innocent until proven guilty," said Faye Leggins, 54, an educator and Democrat who moved back to the city six months ago and still has fresh memories of Hurricane Katrina. She voted for Jefferson on Saturday. "He has enough seniority, so he can do a lot to redevelop this city."

But Republicans argued the scandal had cost Jefferson his clout in Congress. Election Day brought excitement to the state's usually low-key Vietnamese-American community, said David Nguyen, 45, a store manager and Cao supporter.
"The Vietnamese aren't much into politics," he said.

Turnout appeared light in the district, where two-thirds of voters are Democrats and 11 percent are Republicans. More than 60 percent are black.

Though he was the underdog, Cao received endorsements from some Democrat and green-conscious groups as well as the area's Vietnamese-American community. Cao came to the United States as a child after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and went on to earn degrees in philosophy, physics and law.

The national GOP also backed Cao, an immigration lawyer, with a barrage of advertising portraying Jefferson as corrupt.

Prosecutors contend Jefferson used his influence as chairman of the congressional Africa Investment and Trade Caucus to broker deals in Nigeria, Ghana,Cameroon and other African nations on behalf of those who bribed him.

The 2007 indictment claims Jefferson received more than $500,000 in bribes and demanded millions more between 2000 and 2005, including the $90,000 found in the freezer of his Washington home.

No trial date has been set for Jefferson, who became Louisiana's first black congressman since Reconstruction when he took office in 1991. (A show trial for certain)

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WTF!!! A tireless man who is looking after his cousins in Africa feels the need to keep his hard earned cash cool and the rethuglicans propaganda wing has been attacking this unfortunate man for three years! And then they have the gaul to accuse him of $500,000 in bribes? Everyone knows a man for the people cannot be swayed for anything less than 7 figures!

I told him to stay on the East side and keep the dry cleaners open! They never listen!

This disturbs me greatly Comrades. Perhaps I should see if Comrade Red Star wishes to visit the region of Acadiana and straighten some coon asses out!

Comrade, I am just as shocked to hear that my comrades in Nawln's failed to re-elect "Dollar Bill" Jefferson. What were those proles thinking? Hasn't old Dollar Bill managed to keep Nawlins the #1 murder capital despite the loss of so many voters from Katrina? It was not my fault comrade. I was distracted by having to defend myself from the unwarranted accusations of Commissar Theocritus. Oh, and Bush as well!