As Cajuns say, "Hot damn!!!"

From WAFB TV:

Odom Drops Bid for Re-Election

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Bob Odom, a Democrat who has been Louisiana's Commissioner of Agriculture since 1980, says he's dropping out of the November 17th runoff election, handing victory to challenger Mike Strain, a Republican state representative.

Odom has been battling criminal corruption charges since August 2002, when he was indicted on 21 counts. The case was whittled away over the years, and a state judge dismissed all remaining charges earlier this year. However, prosecutors have appealed that ruling, asking for the case to be reinstated.

Despite his legal problems, he won re-election four years ago, and he led a field of three candidates in the October 20th election with 41% of the vote, but he required a majority to win re-election.

Strain finished just behind Odom with 40%.