Cockfighting is legal in Louisiana. In the recent election, the leading Democrat, Chris John (endorsed by the outgoing incumbent, John Breaux) was lambasted in repeated negative TV ads for having gone on record as a supporter of cockfighting. (He argued back that he supported "state's rights," the right of localities to decide for themselves what to legalize.)

John lost to ultraconservative Republican David Vitter.

I have to wonder how much the cockfighting controversy might have contributed to the outcome of this election. It would ceratinly be ironic, or at leat unusual, if the sympathetic-to-animals contingent contributed to the victory of a right-winger.

I've never been to a cockfight, but I've encountered members of the chicken-fighting subculture at the "chicken drops" that were popular in local barrooms a decade or so ago. At a chicken drop, the floor of an enclosure about 8-10 feet square is ruled off into 100 numbered squares (10 x 10). Spectators buy numbers (squares) for a buck apiece; when all 100 are sold, a chicken (or rooster?) is released into the pen, and the square upon which he/she, er, defecates determines the winner of the $100. Since the "house" (the bar) does not take a cut, this is not illegal gambling.

Numerous shady-looking characters wearing T-shirts and/or "gimme" caps extolling the pleasures of cockfighting always seemed to be in attendance at these events. I assume that they were there to recruit some of the most enthusiastic gamblers to move up to a more exciting poultry "sport."