Apparently Bill Clinton made a campaign stop in Lafayette, LA (where I now live) today. He supposedly had lunch at the Country Cuisine Restaurant over on University Dr. I've never been there, so I can't comment on the food.

I knew some other people who were going, but even though the event was open to the public, I wasn't that crazy about seeing Bill, especially in such a small venue.

I saw him give a speech when I was an undergrad at UT Austin. I think it was 1999. I don't remember anything he said. And now he's just likely to trash on Obama, who is campaigning now in New Orleans.

Republicans are ignoring the state, since it now looks like a foregone conclusion, but Louisiana has 56 Democratic delegates up for grabs, and my understanding is that they're assigned proportionally to the amount of votes each candidate receives. So in such a close race, it makes sense for both camps to be campaigning here.

The primary election is tomorrow, but of course I can't vote in it because I'm not registered as either a Democrat or Republican. On the one hand, it's pretty stupid that self-described independents can't vote. On the other, at least the Democratic system is set up to allocate delegates proportionally, which is the way it should be. That has forced candidates to campaign here.

Anyway, I'm interested in seeing the local coverage of Clinton's visit here. Supposedly he toned down the mud-slinging after a bit of backlash, but this story says:

A statement attributed to the Clinton campaign Thursday had been critical of Obama for a "politically expedient" 2006 vote against legislation giving Louisiana a bigger share of outer continental shelf energy drilling revenue. Obama's campaign called it a "baseless political attack," saying the Illinois senator ultimately voted in favor of the measure that sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the state.

Ah, those Clintons...they sure know how to fling the shit, don't they? Supposedly, Obama has been getting the lion's share of white and black votes, while Clinton has been doing extremely well with Hispanic voters, which aren't much in play in Louisiana. We're about 65% white and 32% black (compared with about 12% black nationwide). So I'd expect Obama to do better than Clinton. It's still nice that they have to come here to fight for those votes, though.

Also, one story I read said Bill was going to stop in Scott, Louisiana for some cracklin. I wonder if he's go to Best Stop. I'm not a big fan of cracklin (which is basically fried pork skins), but they do have the best boudin (spicy sausage and rice stuffed in a sausage casing) I've eaten so far.