Duke Leading in Louisiana’s Early Returns

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke led incumbent Republican Gov. Buddy Roemer in very early returns Saturday night in Louisiana’s gubernatorial primary. Former Democratic Gov. Edwin W. Edwards was running third.

The three candidates led a field of 12 in the primary, including U.S. Rep. Clyde C. Holloway, the endorsed choice of the state Republican Party. Unless one of the contenders gets 50% of the vote in this contest, which is open to candidates and voters in both parties, the top two vote-getters will compete in a Nov. 16 runoff.

With absentee ballots amounting to 1% of precincts in, Duke had 4,433 votes, or 35%, Roemer had 4,131 votes, or 33%, and Edwards had 2,860 votes, or 23%.

Outrageous behavior has long been common to Louisiana politics. But Duke’s candidacy for the state’s highest office interjected an ominous new note to the local scene. His background as a klan wizard and American Nazi Party sympathizer alarmed his foes and disturbed even some of his supporters.

Despite his extremist past, opinion polls had indicated he would make a strong showing in Saturday’s vote. Politicians and analysts here point out that Duke made an abortive third party bid for the White House in 1988 and predict that he intends to take advantage of his anticipated success by renewing his presidential candidacy, perhaps challenging President Bush in next spring’s Southern GOP primaries.

In the gubernatorial campaign, the 41-year-old Duke’s attacks on welfare cheating and bureaucratic excesses appeared to find a receptive audience because of the state’s stagnant economy. The prolonged slump, which has drained the state treasury, also soured voters on Duke’s chief rivals.

The 64-year-old Edwards, a three-term governor, was defeated in a bid for a fourth term in 1987 by Roemer, in part, because of the sudden end of the boom in energy prices that had kept this state’s gas and oil industries thriving for years. But Roemer, 48, failed to bring about the full-blown return to prosperity for which many voters had hoped.

Though the economic slowdown created a state fiscal crisis that all the candidates lamented, critics claimed that none of them offered a specific plan for solving the budget dilemma. During a televised debate earlier this month, Edwards entertained the audience by making faces while Roemer sought to answer a question on tax policy.

“It’s not funny, governor, you left us in a mess in this state,” snapped Roemer. He pointed with pride to his own success in balancing the budget during his tenure. But Edwards contended that Roemer had achieved fiscal equilibrium only by relying on accounting tricks. He promised to deal with the deficit by calling a constitutional convention to consider new taxes.

Duke vowed not to raise taxes, pledging instead to lick the budget problem by cutting the state work force through attrition. He contended that state revenues would increase if only the government eased the regulations and lowered the fees it imposed on business.

In the absence of much substantive debate on the issues, the campaign focused on the efforts of candidates to get voters to forgive and forget the misbehavior and misjudgments that marred their past.

Duke, the ex-klan leader who shook up Louisiana politics and embarrassed the state and national GOP by winning a legislative seat as a Republican two years ago and then made a surprisingly strong bid for J. Bennett Johnston’s U.S. Senate seat last year, argued that his views have moderated with the years.

“I suggest to you that because of my past, that shows you can trust what I’m saying today,” he contended in a stump speech last month. “I’ve always stood up and said what I believed whether it was popular or not.”

Edwards also has something to live down--the stain on his reputation as a result of the federal racketeering charges brought against him during his third term as governor. Even though he was acquitted of the charges, he still resents Roemer’s use of the corruption issue in the 1987 campaign in which Roemer defeated Edwards.

Asked by a reporter before Saturday’s vote which of his two chief rivals he would prefer to face in a runoff election, Edwards said: “Duke would be easier, but I’d rather beat Roemer.”

As for Roemer, he also seeks personal vindication after a four-year term during which his constant battles with the Legislature, and his midterm decision to leave the Democratic Party for the GOP, often appeared to overshadow all else. As the campaign ended, he seemed embittered.