Is Gov. Edwin Edwards Irrelevant?

So what do you think?  Is former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards irrelevant?  He has not been in office since 1995″¦.that’s 16 years, and we all know he had to take an eight and a half year “vacation” until just recently.  So many assume he just would fade of into the sunset and never be heard from again.  In fact, several New Orleans political pundits wrote that he is no longer of any consequence on the state and national scene.  Well they apparently have not tuned into the wave of attention showered on the former governor in recent weeks.

His biography, Edwin Edwards-Governor of Louisiana, has become the largest selling book by a Louisiana author in the state’s history.  My friend and colleague Leo Honeycutt has received a number of honors for authoring the Edwards book. Noted Louisiana author and playwright Gus Weill said in a radio interview this week that the Edwards biography and the man himself is more significant that T. harry Williams’ biography of Huey Long. And just last weekend, you would have thought there was a world movie premier at the Monteleone Hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans, as over 1000 people packed the hotel for an Edwin Edwards Roast, or just to mill around and be part of all the excitement.  Many national papers were there to cover the Governor’s comments including the New York Times.  Of course at 84 years old, he has no intention of running for office again.  But irrelevant?  Most politicians would love to have the attention being received by Louisiana’s Cajun Prince.  Edwin Edwards is far from being irrelevant.