Today, we will see if the voters of Louisiana send Rep. William “I Stored $90,000 In My Freezer” Jefferson into retirement. He faces state senator Karen Carter in a run-off; both are Democrats do this does not effect the balance of power in the House.

It’s kind of amusing, but telling, that Jefferson is attacking Carter as a “liberal.” When Carter emerged as Jefferson’s opponent, I suggested that she was actually a darling of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. Which makes me wonder, at least on the question of trade, whether we’d be any better off with Carter in the House. But, certainly, given Jefferson’s standing as one of the CAFTA 15, we know what his trck record in on trade, I hope he loses.

The Washington Post has a piece today about the race, which predicts the race will be close–and that Jefferson will almost surely be indicted for corruption charges in 2007.

Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) was given up for dead politically after the FBI found $90,000 in alleged bribe money in his freezer, and he barely survived a Nov. 7 primary election, garnering 30 percent of the vote in a crowded field of 12 challengers.

Now he is locked in a tough runoff with a well-funded Democratic challenger who is using poetry and schoolchildren to highlight Jefferson’s ethical woes. Many of Jefferson’s House colleagues are privately rooting for him to lose today so his troubles do not tarnish the new Democratic-controlled Congress. But while scandals cost the GOP 12 House seats last month, the eight-term Democrat is proving surprisingly resilient, and experts say the special election could go either way.