BATT WAKES GOP: The message from the movers and shakers in the city's Republican Party was loud and clear: They are committed to taking back the District A seat on the City Council that they lost in 2006 after a run of more than a quarter-century.

A who's who of the local GOP hierarchy was out in force Thursday morning to lend support to businessman and former Councilman Jay Batt, who won the seat in 2002 but saw his re-election bid derailed by upstart Democrat Shelley Midura.

Now that Midura has announced she will not seek a second term, Batt appears to be the candidate to beat -- and his fellow Republicans will be there to help. Only Mid-City civic activist Virginia Blanque, who in recent years has been registered as a Republican, has said she will challenge Batt for the seat representing the western swath of the city from Lakeview to Uptown.

Jay Batt will make it official today when he enters the race for the District A City Council seat he lost in 2006.

Batt, a Republican businessman who was ousted by political newcomer Shelley Midura, has made clear from the moment of his defeat that he wanted his old job back. After months of behind-the-scenes planning, he will announce his candidacy this morning at the casino building in City Park.

Midura, a Democrat who came out of nowhere to break the Republican Party's 26-year hold on the seat, said in July that she will not seek re-election. Her exit made Batt, who chairs the Orleans Parish Republican Party's Executive Committee, the early front-runner.

The absence of an incumbent in the race was expected to draw a crowded field. But to date, only Mid-City civic activist Virginia Blanque has said she definitely is running for the seat representing Lakeview, Carrollton and sections of Uptown and Mid-City.

Lakeview activist Deborah Langhoff, who lost a 2007 bid for a state House seat, also is considering the council contest.