Posted on 12/26/2002 3:52:38 PM PST by Theodore R.
Perhaps I was misunderstood. You're implying he was openly recruited by the GOP to run those races, and he was not. For all intents and purposes, he was an "independent" who hijacked the GOP label after previously running races as a Democrat. As you know, because of the "jungle primary" in Louisiana, a "wacky" candidate can emerge victorious in an all-party contest. No serious Republican chose to challenge Sen. Johnston in '90, so Duke saw his opportunity and ran (without support of the party). The national party took great pains to try to halt the considerable likelihood that he could win the Governorship in '91, getting the sitting Governor to switch parties. The embarrassment came when Gov. Roemer came in 3rd place and the race ended up being between the Crook and the Klansman, and the GOP was forced to endorse the crook Edwards. The party also had to step in again to halt his potential win of Bob Livingston's seat, and was successful that time. But, simply put, Louisiana Dems & Republicans can't stop anyone, including David Duke, from running under any party label. The key for any candidate regardless of party, is to get to be one of the 2 top votegetters to make the runoff, and that can end up going to 2 people in the same party in a few instances. Now with Duke's criminal plea-bargain (turned out he was about the same as Edwards), one of the terms is that he can't run for office again. The Duke problem finally appears to be resolved, once and for all.
The "blame" game always suffers when the truth is told.
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