Georgia Election Officials Bar Duke From GOP Primary Race

A Georgia election panel Wednesday rebuffed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke’s bid to run in the state’s presidential primary, leaving conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan as President Bush’s only GOP rival in the contest.

Should the action withstand an expected court challenge, keeping Duke off the ballot could take on added significance if Georgia officials approve a plan to hold their primary March 3 instead of on March 10. That would make it the first in the Deep South, the region where Duke’s campaign could have its strongest appeal to disaffected white voters.

Under Georgia law, candidates for the presidential primary are proposed by the secretary of state, but actual ballot listing is set by a bipartisan panel representing the Republican and Democratic parties. A candidate may be excluded by unanimous vote of panel members from his party, which occurred in Duke’s case.

Georgia Republican Chairman Alec Poitevant, a panel member, said: “David Duke is not a Republican. . . . He’s a Nazi. We deplore his twisted mentality.”

But Duke told an Atlanta radio talk show: “We feel we have a basic American right to run. The people of Georgia have a right to decide who they want. We will fight this in court.”

Campaign aide Nicole Berthonnaud told Reuters from Duke’s New Orleans headquarters: “We have a lawyer in Georgia and the American Civil Liberties Union has expressed an interest in taking our case.”

Massachusetts officials recently decided to list Duke on their primary ballot after being threatened with a lawsuit. On Tuesday, the ACLU filed a suit challenging the decision by Rhode Island election officials to exclude Duke from that state’s primary ballot.

In South Carolina, meanwhile, GOP leaders voted Tuesday night to reinstate the presidential primary that was canceled last spring when Bush was thought to have no challengers within his own party. South Carolina’s delegates to the GOP national convention were to be picked at a state convention. The primary will be held March 7.