Former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards died earlier this week and arrangements have been made for a public viewing.

According to KATC TV3, the former governor will lie in Memorial Hall in the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge this weekend.

The planned viewing will be held on Saturday as the public will be invited to attend from 10am until 7pm.

A private ceremony will be held on Sunday at the old state capitol for family and close friends.

The death of Edwin Edwards prompted comments from many Louisiana politicians, including the current governor, senators, and congressmen. The comments included personal remembrances of the former governor and expressed sympathy toward his family.

Governor Edwards was not a shy man and was never caught at a loss for words. Several journalists shared their memories of the time they spent in interviews or at press conferences with Governor Edwards and, after reading those shared memories, it appears that he was a bright, witty, and congenial man.

My favorite slogan from any campaign ever came from Edwin Edwards' 1991 race against David Duke. At the time, the corruption in Governor Edwards' office was well-known and, of course, we remember David Duke as a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. After the primary, Edwards and Duke were in the lead, with both taking just over 30% of the vote, 34% to 32% respectively.

This put voters in a pickle: do we vote for a known racist or a known crook? And it was from this predicament that the slogan came about, though it wasn't an "official" slogan of the Edwards campaign. Oh, the slogan?  It was "Vote for the Crook, It's Important".

Rest in peace, Governor.

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