Effects of David Duke being elected Governor of Louisiana

[vultan]

In 1991, white supremacist David Duke garnered enough votes in the gubernatorial open primary to face former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards in a run-off election, but was soundly defeated in the election (although he sadly won the majority of the white vote).
What if, with a largish dose of handwavium, Duke barely edges out Edwards to become Governor of Louisiana. What would be the effects in the state (I'd imagine the words "lame" and "duck" are going to be brought up a lot, and rightfully so). What would be the effect in America, and indeed the world, that a racist had just been elected to high office? Thoughts?

[Enigmajones]

Well....... christ Im dumbfounded by this. I guess a lot of shame on the part of America. Anger. Riots in New Orleans possibly?

[Snake Featherston]

He winds up an ineffectual governor who completely destabilizes Louisiana and tars the Republican Party by loudly proclaiming himself a Republican and refusing to accept their unwillingness to accept him.

[vultan]

Originally Posted by Snake Featherston

He winds up an ineffectual governor who completely destabilizes Louisiana and tars the Republican Party by loudly proclaiming himself a Republican and refusing to accept their unwillingness to accept him.

Could he pull a Bloomberg (DEFINITELY not comparing the two strongly) and declare himself an independent fairly soon into his term?

[Snake Featherston]

Originally Posted by vultan

Could he pull a Bloomberg (DEFINITELY not comparing the two strongly) and declare himself an independent fairly soon into his term?

No, he would not do that. He would really want to emphasize he's of the party of Traditional American Values to try to mainstream his type of Republican, creating a massive dilemma for the Republicans and helping to ensure Clinton wins a smashing electoral and popular victory against Bush I.

[vultan]

Originally Posted by Snake Featherston

No, he would not do that. He would really want to emphasize he's of the party of Traditional American Values to try to mainstream his type of Republican, creating a massive dilemma for the Republicans and helping to ensure Clinton wins a smashing electoral and popular victory against Bush I.

Actually, if Duke getting elected really hurts the national GOP that badly, then Mario Cuomo would probably decide to jump in, and he probably wins the nomination and the election. Maybe Clinton becomes VP?

[Maniakes]

It may go a long way towards discrediting jungle primaries. As it was, the 1991 LA-GOV election was long held up as an example of the problems with Louisiana's primary system, since the general election candidates were very nearly the two worst conceivable candidates: a former governor who had been hounded out of office four years previously on charges of bribery and mail fraud (*) combined with dismal perceived job performance, and a Klan leader. Heck, when Edwards lost the previous election, one newspaper ran an editorial saying that the only way Edwards could win an election in the future would be if his opponent were Adolf Hitler.

(*) He was tried and acquitted in federal court during his previous term as governor, but was widely viewed as having gotten off on a technicality. After his OTL final term as governor, he was tried again on new charges and convicted of 17 counts of fraud, extortion, and racketeering.

If Duke wins rather than Edwards, I'd expect the election to have even more impact and staying power as a negative example. We probably wouldn't see Washington and California adopt jungle primaries in 2008 and 2010 respectively, and we might see Louisiana abolish their jungle primary.

As for Duke's term in office, I wouldn't be surprised to see him not last a full term. Louisiana's constitution has provisions for recall elections, which if I'm reading them correctly mean that the Louisiana state legislature could pass a law providing for any rules they want for triggering a recall election for governor, after which there'd be a yes/no vote on removing Duke from office. If "yes" gets a majority, Duke is out and the Lieutenant Governor (Melinda Schwegmann (D) IOTL, although butterflies might lead to Paul Hardy (R) being reelected instead) serves out the remainder of his term. I'd expect almost every member of the legislature and a solid majority of the electorate to strongly prefer either Schwegmann or Hardy over Duke, and Governor Duke would be widely seen as a major embarrassment for the state.

Of course, it depends what the POD is. I've been assuming it was something along the lines of Edwards being caught red-handed taking mob payoffs or knocking over liquor stores, making it hard for people to stomach voting for him even to keep Duke out. If the POD is instead a massive groundswell of pro-Klan sentiment, all bets are off.

[Catmo]

You also have to remember that David Duke caused more African-Americans to register to vote and actually turn out than anyone else ever did.

I see a Duke victory leading to blacks participating in elections in the South in much greater numbers. I also see the Republicans wanting to distance themselves from Duke. No more racist dog whistles in their ads. They're going to be very careful, and that will make the Republicans a better party. Of course, some potential candidates will be emboldened by Duke's success, but they will ultimately fail.

One thing we wouldn't see is a major candidate for president signing a document stating that blacks had it better under slavery and endorsing books that said slavery was awesome as has happened in OTL.

[CDurham]

Um, isn't this the guy that got kicked out of the KKK because his White Supremist views were too extreme even for THEM

[kasumigenx]

Originally Posted by CDurham

Um, isn't this the guy that got kicked out of the KKK because his White Supremist views were too extreme even for THEM

David Duke is in Stormfront as well, I think.

[vultan]

Hey, uh, I included this concept in a TL I'm starting, "You Get What You Give".
Check it out:
http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...d.php?t=208167

[Marc Pasquin]

On one level, the effects would be limited since its not as if he could re-introduce Jim Crows Laws or same such things.

[Mr. Stubacca]

As many have noted, i presume he would have been highly ineffective and faced a recall which i think was possible.

My real question- how awful was Buddy Roemer that he came in 3rd behind Edwards and Duke.