Final Louisiana Senate debate focuses on David Duke, draws protests
Final Louisiana Senate debate focuses on David Duke, draws protests
Moderator John Snell tried to make the final Louisiana Senate debate a wide-ranging discussion of federal lawmaking and government policy.
But he couldn't quite avoid what he most wanted to: Letting the debate in Georges Auditorium at Dillard University Wednesday (Nov. 2) become a referendum about one candidate.
White supremacist and former KKK leader David Duke became the focus of protesters outside the hall and the candidates within.
Before the debate, more than 50 protesters crowded the back door to the hall, demanding to be let in. They chanted slogans against Duke's invitation to be on stage at the historically black college. They also expressed outrage that they couldn't be in the auditorium.
As the debate started, chanting grew louder and police pepper-sprayed some protesters. Echoes of their shouts could be heard throughout the building as the debate commenced.
Demonstrators work to gain access to Georges Auditorium at Dillard University during the U.S. Senate debate in New Orleans on Wednesday, November 2, 2016. (Photo by Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune) Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Lawyer Caroline Fayard, D-New Orleans, who has used Duke as a foil throughout her campaign, was the first to attack him. Asked about Obamacare, she talked instead about how she told school children this morning that Duke was a "bad man."
"This snake has slithered out of the swamp probably because these career politicians on this stage haven't done their job well enough," she said.
Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, Fayard's chief Democratic rival, also pivoted on the same question. He excoriated Fayard for linking him to Duke in an ad running in New Orleans.
"It was a big lie and next time you talk to those kids, tell them that you don't mind lying sometimes," Campbell said.
Snell, an anchor with WVUE-TV, tried to rein them in.
"You do an enormous disservice...if this becomes a referendum on one candidate," he said.
Snell later got into a shouting match with Duke as Duke tried to gloss over his federal conviction for mail fraud and filing false tax returns.
Duke spent the debate interrupting Snell and railing against the media and banks. At one point he referred to Jews as "tribalists."
Protest against David Duke at Dillard University
Protesters demonstrated outside of Dillard University's Georges Auditorium on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 where former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke participated in a debate with other candidates for a U.S. Senate seat in New Orleans.
As things intermittently settled down, the candidates returned to their familiar lines of attack. Rep. John Fleming, R-Minden, went after the race's frontrunner, state Treasurer John Kennedy, R-Madisonville. Fayard went after Campbell and visa versa.
Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, stayed above the fray, answering the questions Snell asked.
"We need an adult going to the U.S. Senate. I'm not sure what was accomplished in this debate," Boustany said afterward, criticizing the moderators for not only Duke's presence but the absence of broader questions about national security or the economic growth.
With 24 candidates on the ballot, it will be nearly impossible for one to take the majority vote on Nov. 8. That all but guarantees the top two vote-getters spots in a Dec. 10 runoff. The winner will then succeed Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who will have served 12 years in the Senate when he retires in January.
The only statewide elected official in the race, Kennedy has led throughout the primary campaign. But on his heels are Boustany and Campbell, who were neck-and-neck in independent polls last month. Fleming continues to poll in the high single digits and Fayard, who briefly led Campbell in September, has faded slightly in October.
The power of the candidates' stagecraft to sway voters may have been diminished by both the election calendar and the World Series. More than 500,000 Louisianans have already voted. And Raycom Media affiliate WVUE-TV in New Orleans chose to run Game 7between the Indians and the Cubs instead of the debate.
The seats in the spacious auditorium were largely empty, save for a few invited guests of the campaigns. Debate sponsor Raycom had prohibited Dillard students, the general public and other media from watching it in person. Reporters were sequestered in a nearby classroom to watch the back-and-forth on a screen.
Raycom paid the firm Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. to survey the candidates' support among likely voters. The media company then used those findings to invite the six candidates who polled over 5 percent. Duke made the cut with 5.1 percent, despite polling no higher than 3.8 percent in three other independent polls last month.
Reporters with Raycom's affiliates — Greg Meriwether of WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, Doug Warner of KSLA-TV in Shreveport and Cynthia Arceneaux of KPLC-TV in Lake Charles — lobbed the questions.
I gotta ride with Duke on this one even though I don't support him at all. Some moderators SHOULD NOT moderate.
