The 1st is conservative territory dominated by the mostly white suburban communities that ring New Orleans. Throughout the redistricting wrangling of the 1990s, every proposal has spared the 1st from substantial overhaul. The 1st starts in New Orleans' upper-class northwest corner, takes in the city's western suburbs in Jefferson Parish and then runs north to include the northeastern corner of southern Louisiana.

Jefferson Parish anchors the 1st. The area is made up of affluent New Orleans suburbs such as Metairie, base of the state legislative seat held until 1992 by David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klansman-turned-GOP-conservative who waged high-profile Senate and gubernatorial campaigns (as well as making failed bids for president). Nearly half the district resides in Jefferson; the area is packed with white-collar conservatives, many of whom live in the affluent suburbs dotting Lake Pontchartrain's shore and work in New Orleans.

Historically, conservative candidates have done well in the 1st. Redistricting for the 1990s pushed the 1st further to the right, as cartographers struggled to carve a second black-majority district. The mapmakers' effort left the 1st with the smallest black population in any district in the state -- 12 percent in the plan used for the 1994 election. Blacks constitute 31 percent of the statewide populace.

From east Jefferson the 1st skips across Lake Pontchartrain to take in three of the "Florida Parishes" north of New Orleans: St. Tammany, Washington and Tangipahoa. The eight parishes north of the lake and east of the Mississippi are so named because they were part of Spanish Florida until 1810.

The richest parish in the state, St. Tammany is home to nearly a quarter of the 1st's registered voters. Once an isolated vacation area for residents escaping the heat and humidity of New Orleans, St. Tammany now is a booming suburban haven. St. Tammany has been the fastest-growing parish in the state in the last two decades. In the 1970s its population grew nearly 70 percent; in the 1980s it grew more than 30 percent. Many of the newcomers are transplants from the East and Midwest who have maintained GOP voting habits. St. Tammany gave George Bush 5y percent of the vote in 1992 to 29 percent for Bill Clinton.

To the west of St. Tammany lies the former strawberry capital of the world, Tangipahoa Parish. It is now home to many New Orleans and Baton Rouge commuters, but Tangipahoa farms still produce great amounts of strawberries and bell peppers. The parish economy has diversified and is sustained by Southeastern Louisiana University (11,400 students) and distribution centers for Winn-Dixie and Superfine supermarkets.

Redistricting in 1992 bolstered the conservative nature of the 1st by adding rural Washington Parish to the district's northeastern corner. Voters there in 1968 gave George C. Wallace more than 70 percent of the presidential vote, and they supported Duke in his 1990 campaign for senator and 1991 run for governor. Predominantly a farming community that grows watermelons and breeds chickens, Washington Parish bears a striking resemblance to the Mississippi counties it borders.