I just got my “All Displaced Louisiana Voters” registration form in the mail, which was very exciting, because it means hopefully everybody else from NOLA is getting them too.

The first mayoral debate took place olast Tuesday night, beginning what promises to be a very ironically entertaining election period. Only ten out of the 23 candidates were invited to attend. Of the ten, only Kimberly Butler, the Clerk of Criminal Court, did not attend. Butler was still behind bars serving her sentence for contempt of court. Judges cited her for ignoring orders to appear in court last week and later dodging arrest warrants.

The candidates who showed presented varied strategies for the reconstruction of New Orleans. Mayor Ray Nagin, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and Audubon Institute Chief Executive Ron Forman want to use federal dollars to rebuild the city. Lawyer Rob Couhig and Rev. Tom Watson are looking for a more independent plan to make New Orleans self-sufficient in the long term.

Couhig said the city should try to rebuild its job market around its universities, one of the only dynamic sectors of the local economy. "We're always dependent on others," he said. "We have it within ourselves."

Lawyer Virginia Boulet believes the city should issue tax-exempt revenue bonds to help rebuild its housing stock. And former City Councilwoman Peggy Wilson’s plan to make the city and its residents free from all taxes for five to seven years had all of the other candidates looking at her askance.

Wilson had other ideas that were equally underwhelming, such as: "There are people we don't want back in this city. We don't want the drug dealers, we don't want the gangs, we don't want the pimps, we don't want the welfare queens. We want zero empowerment of those kind of people in our community."

Fortunately Watson had the wherewithal to respond, "Do your research, most of those folk worked, OK? Don't punish single women with children. Please don't do that. They deserve a right to return like every doctor, every lawyer, every engineer, every architect, every preacher. Everybody has a right to return to this city."

Watson’s main concern seems to be the diaspora. He believes that people are paying too much attention to buildings and parks. So far Watson seems to be the most out-spoken and honest about his beliefs. He also accused the candidates who said the city’s changed demographics had nothing to do with their decision to run for office of being “in denial.”

I don’t know if he’s right or not, a lot of white folks were angered by Nagin’s chocolate city statement. Only days after the speech candidates began pouring out of the woodwork. The mayoral primary will take place on April 22.