At New Orleans mayoral forum, candidates say they're agents for change on housing, poverty

Three leading candidates for New Orleans mayor on Tuesday evening delved deep into policy during a good-natured debate that came at a pivotal moment in the city's municipal races.

Hosted by the Junior League of New Orleans, the Links, the National Council of Jewish Women and Women United, the forum focused closely on policies to uplift minorities, low-income New Orleanians, women and people with young children.

The candidates — a state senator, Royce Duplessis, plus two City Council members, Helena Moreno and Oliver Thomas — each plugged legislation they've helped pass in those areas. And in a running theme of the race, the candidates vied to cast themselves as the most effective agent of change for a city whose residents bemoan streets that crack too readily, a power grid that fail