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Mardi Gras Takes A Political Turn In Election Year

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By MIKE KUNZELMAN, The Associated Press

Published: February 6, 2008

NEW ORLEANS - Fat Tuesday and Super Tuesday collided on the streets of the French Quarter, where revelers added a distinctly political flavor to the city's annual raucous bash.

Among the men dressed in pink baby-doll pajamas or leather loincloths and the women flashing glimpses of flesh for beads were some whose costumes had political themes. Louisiana voters don't head to the polls until Saturday, so many let their costumes make political statements on a day when 24 other states were holding presidential primaries and caucuses.

Kim Disselliss, 49, simply taped a sign to her back showing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton dressed as George Washington and reading, "Monica Lewinsky's X-Boyfriend's Wife for President. 2 for 1 Sale."

Mardi Gras, aka Fat Tuesday, is the end to the pre-Lenten Carnival season. The celebration characterized by family friendly parades uptown and in the suburbs - and by heavy drinking and lots of near-nudity in the French Quarter - ends 12 days of parades and parties.

Crowds that had begun staking out spots on the parade routes as early as Friday night spent the day collecting beads and other trinkets thrown from floats.

The celebration appears to have bounced back strongly since Katrina flooded more than 80 percent of the city. Mardi Gras crowd estimates hovered at about 1 million in the years before Katrina, and the crowd reached about 800,000 last year. This year, however, some worried turnout would be lighter because the celebration fell so early.

Kevin Kelly, who lives on the parade route, said the crowds did seem quieter. It was too early for college students on spring break to join the party, Kelly pointed out.

"And frankly, it's a good thing," Kelly said. "The city smells better without a bunch of drunken kids using every doorway as a toilet."

Clarinetist Pete Fountain, dressed in a tunic as one of King Arthur's knights, looked frail but happy Tuesday morning as he led 100 members of his Half-Fast Walking Club onto Uptown streets in what has become the city's unofficial opening of Mardi Gras.

"Oh, I'm feeling fine. You always feel fine on Mardi Gras," said Fountain, 77. He's had health problems since Hurricane Katrina, but still plays two days a week at a Gulf Coast casino.

While the walking club was on its way, floats of the Zulu parade headed for their starting point. Zulu, the black community's oldest parade, was followed by the Rex parade, with businessman John E. Koerner III reigning as Rex, King of Carnival and Monarch of Merriment.

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