Glover's next move depends on who succeeds him

Typically, Shreveport mayors go out with a whimper, and the question is whether that’s the fate of current Mayor Cedric Glover,

To say the least, post-mayoral political careers of past Shreveport leaders have been dismal. Since going to the strong mayor/council system, none have won any elective office after their service. A relatively smaller population base doesn’t provide much to start with for statewide ambitions, and now that demographics and persistent voting habits make it all but certain that only black Democrat mayors will inhabit Government Plaza, the Fourth Congressional District or the Public Service Commission District 5 seats built around demographics and dynamics that favor Republicans mean upward mobility seems unlikely.

There was some thought that something big could be brewing for Glover that was not mutually exclusive with this quest and may have complemented it nicely. Make no mistake, by far the top goal of state Democrats is to keep Sen. Mary Landrieu in office, whose flagging reelection campaign threatens to remove her as the last Democrat in office elected statewide. In particular, as typically Democrats are lower information, lower interested members of the electorate, and blacks disproportionately making up this portion, with this election during midterms without an attractive figure to those voters such as Pres. Barack Obama running for something, it’s feared by them that lagging turnout will doom Landrieu’s chances.

A strategy evolved trying to counter this, even if it began with a lucky confluence of events. Falling into their lap, the perfect combination of ego fueled by near-worship by lower information voters, desires of past cronies largely shunted away from power, and hopes of yellow-dog Democrats, Prisoner #03128-095 announced his intent to run in the Sixth District. Known as former Gov. Edwin Edwards before his imprisonment, while his chances of winning are next to zero, his chances of attracting some Democrats with a less-than-marginal interest in politics to vote for him are excellent. These voters who otherwise would not participate then would be likely to vote for Landrieu, manufacturing votes for her that otherwise she would not have gotten.

Then came Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo, running again for the Fifth Congressional District. Not only can he drag out votes there, but under the right circumstances he might actually triumph. And there's already incumbent Rep. Cedric Richmond in the Second District, who won't face much of a contest but still will add a few incremental votes. They failed even to field candidates in the other three districts, but some districts covered are better than none.

This included the Fourth District, where Glover could have run. This points to his preferred strategy, where as an encore he could try to resume his dance with state Rep. Patrick Williams, who is running to succeed the term-limited Glover. Williams challenged him in 2003 when Glover ran for the last permitted time due to legislative term limits for District 4, but failed. He then won in 2007 and 2011, so it could be that Williams wins this fall, resigns shortly thereafter, and Glover could swap in through the ensuing special election and try to set himself up for as many as 13 years in that spot.

Or perhaps Glover would pass on the legislative post, but having been in elective office most of his adult life and relatively young, he seems unlikely to bow out now. Which means under this scenario, in an odd way he would benefit from his old adversary winning his current job, making him a big favorite to regain his old post within months. Otherwise, a year may pass before a potential Round 3 between the two.