Perfect menu: peas, cornbread and ... politics?

Few things go better with politics than peas and cornbread, and the Tensas Basin Levee District's annual pea cookin' draws powerful politicians from all over the state.

Among those sopping their cornbread in the purple hull pea pot liquor: three state legislative committee chairmen; a Louisiana Supreme Court Justice; an array of sheriffs; the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Vicksburg District; one of the longest serving district attorneys in Louisiana; and a university president.

"This is the pool of political power in Louisiana," said state Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

About the only one absent was Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"It takes too long for him to get here from Iowa," said Thompson, laughing, referring to the governor's presidential campaign travels.

Morehouse Parish farmer and levee district board member Venoy Kinnaird, famous for his pink eye purple hull peas and turnip green soup, has provided the menu for years, but it's the guests who provide the gossip in the muggy, open collar, paper plate atmosphere of the levee district office.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., a candidate for governor, sent representative Murphy Chestnut, whose boss' race was among the topics of conversation.

The consensus was Vitter has the first spot locked down in the primary, while state Rep. John Bel Edwards, the only Democrat in the race, and Republicans Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle desperately try to join him in the runoff.

State Sens. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, chairman of the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee and possibly in line for the Senate presidency, and Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe, chairman of the Environmental Committee, were quietly conspiring at one table.

But when asked about their conversation, they just smiled and said they were talking about the peas, although they were overheard talking about the rift between LSU and Biomedical Research Foundation over the operation of public hospitals in Monroe and Shreveport.

"I think I'll stay out of this one," Walsworth said.

But there was also a smattering of conversation about flood control.

Col. John Cross, commander of the corps' Vicksburg District, said the annual pea cookin' "builds trust and friendship that helps us work through potential problems in the future. We're all on the same team," he said.

John Stringer, executive director of the district, and Drew Keahey, board chairman, also used the opportunity to get the ear of decision makers.

"We work closely with all of these folks; they all assist us in a number of ways," Stringer said. "It's a great atmosphere to reconnect and remind them of our mission."

But in the end the meal was the star.

Supreme Court Justice Marcus Clark brought some to-go containers to take home. "It's just that good," he said.

Follow Greg Hilburn on Twitter at GregHilburn1