When ideas aren't quite clicking and candidates aren't quite signing up, sometimes you just need to hit the road, clear your head and start pressing some flesh. So it is with the Louisiana Democrats, whose recent election cycle showing was upstaged by an 84-year-old that was fresh out of the pen. Beginning Thursday, the Dems are launching a weeklong 35-city "Getting Back to Basics" tour. Party Chairman Buddy Leach and other party officials will appear to meet face-to-face with Democrats and distribute resources to the parishes.

With a who's-who of state Democratic pols and Ronnie LaMarque attending, former State Senate President Sammy Nunez received funeral rites today in St. Louis Cathedral. The man for whom Nunez often tamed the legislative wilds of the state capitol, former Gov. Edwin Edwards, gave a eulogy that was full of praise, and not without at least one quip. Former Congressman Bill Jefferson and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu also spoke, with Landrieu sharing a letter from President Bill Clinton with kind words for the Senator, who died Sunday at 81 years old. The AP has a full rundown.

Tonight, he'll dance at a black tie ball. Tomrorow, he'll be serenaded by Deacon John and flown over by really impressive jets. And, if he's lucky, a few people might even get their minds out of the football long enough to pay attention. At a midday Monday ceremony at the Old State Capitol in Baton Rogue, Bobby Jindal will be inaugurated into his second term as governor. The 40-year-old spent the run-up to the Big Day like any other guy: betting on football and talking up his friends. Jindal is ceding most of the festivaling to New Orleans and the BCS Championship, but at least that means Edwin Edwards won't be there to upstage him. AP has details on all the pomp.

The uncertainty and nastyass-ness of the campaign has now moved to the cold, hard reality of the vote tally. The results of yesterday's elections are in. After Republican slugfests on the statewide ballot, there will be little change coming to Baton Rogue in January. In local races, vacancies and redistricting meant we would have to bid farewell to old faces. Read how it all panned out after the jump.

Billy Nungesser is no stranger to left-field tactics from behind the camera. During the Big Oozy, he was known to deploy the old "get-really-mad-and-red-in-the-face," or the even older, "get-really-mad-and-just-start-swearing." Now that he's running for lieutenant governor, though, Nungesser seems to feel that it's time to diversify. He's already pulled out the "get-a-country-music-singer-to-get-heartfelt-for-me." For his latest TV spot, "Other People's Money," it was apparently time to go all arty.

It's official: The state Democratic Party won't field any statewide candidates this year. Still, poll numbers showed they had at least a chance. Are party brass starting to believe their own bad press?

We figured David Vitter would be happy with the Republicans' successful Statue of Liberty play against the President's Jobs speech to Congress last week. But, this week, Vitty Cent became re-enraged when he realized the speech now conflicts with our first love: the Saints. So, our junior U.S. Senator decided to announce he was putting himself on the Injured List for Obama's speech. "Family and Friends Coming over for Saints game tomorrow. Onto recovery - and Super Bowl! Vitter tweeted. But, since the Democrats now have a spine again, it didn't end there.

With EWE seemingly stuck with his felony conviction for this year's cycle, Bobby Jindal appeared to be breezing through to an easy election night, and an extended stay at the big house in Red Stick. But a poll released today indicates one of Jindal's old opponents might smell blood in the water. Jefferson Parish businessman (yet one-time New Orleans mayoral candidate), John Georges, was shown beating Jindal by one point in one section of a survey conducted by state pollster, Verne Kennedy.

We promise we weren't in Jamaica or Hawaii, but our weekly roundup of the week's events was on hiatus over the last few weeks. Now, we're back to clean up the mess that we missed. While we were out, LSU's Jordan Jefferson showed his love of shoes, everyone decided to run for secretary of state and, as ever, Mitch Landrieu held a lot of press conferences. Click through to check out the score, which are cutting a fine figure as always with the illustrations of Ian Hoch.

On Labor Day, we remember the life of state labor leader Victor Bussie, who died yesterday at age 92. As former president of the AFL-CIO, the Montrose native was the strongest force in the halls of power, "except for maybe the governor," political player Bob Mann told the Advocate. (By governor, we assume he means EWE). But it was no mistake that Bussie wielded a long shadow in the house that Long built. Bussie's legendary battles in Baton Rogue were preceeded by a starring role in a real-life drama starring Gov. Earl K. Long.