re: Was Huey P Long or Edwin Edwards a bigger figure in Louisiana history?

Huey P Long and its not even close. They were able to take advantage of control of flood recovery and New Deal monies to build things that lasted a long time, for better or worse. In doing so they set into motion political forces that still have influence today.

Don't get me wrong. Edwin Edwards was extremely influential. The new state constitution, lots of graft and personality. He also had lots of spin-off political families. Oddly enough, even though he is known for corruption, he was actually the one that created the civil service framework that was designed to separate state workers from political influence - at least the classified ones.