Duke Quietly Getting His Name on Ballots in Several States

While Republican presidential contender Patrick Buchanan has been making headlines in New Hampshire, white supremacist candidate David Duke has been quietly getting his name on several state ballots.

So far, Duke has been successful in 10 of 14 attempts to get onto state ballots for the Republican presidential primaries.

But he has also ruled out running in 14 states, and has yet to earn federal matching funds, which go to any candidate who has raised at least $5,000 in 20 different states from contributors of $250 or less.

Marc Ellis, the Duke campaign spokesman, said he is “confident” Duke will qualify for matching funds within the next four weeks.

Duke is a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard who first ran as a Republican in 1989 in a successful campaign for Louisiana state representative. His attempts to get onto ballots are being challenged, with mixed results, by Republicans who claim Duke is not an authentic member of their party.

Republican activists are trying to limit any negative association voters may make between Duke and the policies of the Grand Old Party.

But Democratic activists are trying to underscore that association.

Steve Gutow, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, said Duke is “an indication of the kind of politics of hatred and division that this administration has practiced since its inception.”

Democratic activists denounce Duke publicly, but do not rule out the possibility that votes for Duke could chip away at a probable George Bush lead and thereby help elect a Democrat to the presidency.

Unlike Duke, Buchanan, Bush’s chief GOP rival, is having an easy time getting onto state ballots.

Republicans agree that Buchanan, who has been accused of making anti-Semitic statements, has “legitimate Republican credentials,” said Gary Koops, spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

WON’T RUN IN NEW YORK OR NEW HAMPSHIRE

Duke has decided to limit his contests, opting, for example, not to run in New York because it has “some really Byzantine” ballot laws, said his campaign chairman.

Duke is also not running in New Hampshire, site of the first primary. Nor is he vying in four states that hold caucuses rather than primaries: Arizona, Iowa, Missouri and Virginia.

The other states he has ruled out are Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and South Dakota, his campaign chairman said.

In four states, government officials have denied his application to be included on the Republican ballot: Florida, Georgia, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. A Rhode Island court later reversed the government’s ruling, and in the three other states the matter is hung up in the courts.

The 10 states in which Duke’s name is on the ballot are Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Campaign Chairman Ellis called it “Kafkaesque” for states to have blocked Duke’s inclusion on their ballots.

In all four cases contested, the American Civil Liberties Union is representing Duke in the courts. The ACLU is also trying to secure the ballot inclusion of lesser-known candidates from both parties, such as former Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-Minn.) and imprisoned right-wing extremist Lyndon LaRouche.

Nine candidates have so far qualified for such funds, two of whom are Republicans Bush and Buchanan.

Six Democrats have qualified for matching funds: former California Gov. Edmund (Jerry) Brown, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, former Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts and Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who has dropped out of the race.

A seventh, Lenora Fulani, is running as either a Democrat or an independent. Fulani heads the New Alliance Party, which supports Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s position on Jews and which critics charge is anti-Semitic.