Duking It Out
With Rep. Bob Livingston (R., La.) expected to announce his retirement on Thursday, speculation has turned to who will fill the First District seat now held by the House Appropriations Committee Chairman. It just so happens that David Duke is a Livingston constituent, and it looks like he's planning to run. If that happens, expect to see the entire Republican Party apparatus work to keep the former KKK leader and Nazi sympathizer out of Congress. "Bob said that if he retires, he will do everything in his power to see that a Republican is elected whose name is not David Duke," said Livingston press aid Mark Corallo in an Associated Press interview. Livingston has indicated that he might spend more than $500,000 from his campaign war chest.

Louisiana's First District is 85 per cent white and 10 per cent black, and includes affluent sections of New Orleans and outlying suburbs. In early 1989, Duke narrowly won election to the state legislature representing a piece of this district. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1990 against incumbent Democrat Bennett Johnston, losing 54 per cent to 44 per cent. The next year he tried for the governorship, finishing second in an open primary but losing in the general election 61 per cent to 39 per cent to Democrat Edwin Edwards. In this race, Duke captured 60 per cent of the middle-income white vote—testament to his skills as a demagogue willing to exploit racial and class resentment. The contest drew national attention as many prominent Republicans, including President Bush, endorsed Edwards. The news media had a field day, with network reporters flying into bayou country to file holier-than-thou reports on how racism is still alive and well among the ignorant yahoos of America.

Republicans will have to watch their step on this one. They clearly have a deep interest in keeping Duke out of Washington, but don't want to inspire a backlash among voters by sending anti-Duke carpetbaggers to Louisiana. The local Republicans, led by Livingston, will have to find a single candidate they can support. Failure to do this in the past has led to much of Duke's limited success. With the state's all-party primary system, a fractured GOP could leave Duke the only Republican standing even if he attracts few followers.

In the end, the real danger probably isn't that Duke would go to Congress, but that this solid Republican district (it voted 56 per cent for both Dole in 1996 and Bush in 1992) would fall to a Democrat if Duke were to become the Republican candidate.