Duke Opponents March, Singing ‘Stop the Wizard’

Hundreds of people marched through New Orleans streets Saturday to protest the gubernatorial candidacy of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Duke’s rival labeled him an inept legislator.

About 500 people carried signs, chanted slogans and sang, “We’re off to stop the wizard.”

Duke, a state Republican representative who has been disowned by President Bush and other GOP leaders, was grand wizard of the klan in the late 1970s and was a Nazi sympathizer.

At a rally in Monroe on Friday night, Duke said that many politicians are, like him, opposed to issues such as forced busing but do not say so because they’re “afraid they might be branded racist.”

Duke, 41, and former Gov. Edwin W. Edwards, 64, face each other in a runoff on Saturday. They edged Republican Gov. Buddy Roemer out of the race in an Oct. 19 open primary.

Edwards, seeking a fourth term as governor, on Saturday belittled the legislative record of Duke, who repeatedly failed to have his legislation dealing with welfare, public housing and affirmative action enacted.

“When he was busy burning crosses to hurt people, I was building hospitals to help people,” Edwards, who faced two trials on racketeering charges but was never convicted, told a crowd of about 250 in Kenner, just west of New Orleans.

Duke claims that affirmative action programs discriminate against whites and says that welfare programs have created a growing underclass, which his critics say is code language for blacks.

Election officials project that more than 70% of Louisiana’s 2 million voters will turn out for the runoff.