David Duke may Run for President

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

The Daily Beast reports:

"A former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and Republican executive-committee chairman in his district until 2000, Duke has a significant following online. His videos go viral. This month, he's launching a tour of 25 states to explore how much support he can garner for a potential presidential bid."

I think that this would be a disadvantage for the Republican nominee for President in 2012. Undoubtedly the Republican Party benefits from outright racists against blacks. This could be a problem for them in a close election.

The first question this guy answers is are you ready for a black President?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_fWnLo1esY

[Kazikli Bey]

And the same thing will happen to him as what happened last time he ran for the presidency. He'll lose, plain and simple. Will it take away from the Republican base, however, I don't know. I don't think so, Ron Paul hardly steals anything from the Republican base, even though he was the Stormfront poster boy, simply because there are not enough racists to make an impact. But that's purely my opinion.

[W.E.B. Du Bois]

The point is not that Duke will win, but how many votes will he siphon off the Republican Party? You could be right in an unexpected sense in that Duke is only popular in Republican areas where the GOP is going to win in a landslide anyway. On the other hand, lots of elections in the US are real close (i.e. Gore v Bush and Kerry v Bush) and several thousands of votes can make the difference between victory and defeat.

As with Ron Paul, he was nothing when he ran as a Libertarian many years ago. The last time he ran, he did not run in the general election. Ron Paul today is far more powerful than the old Ron Paul. I doubt he'll run in the general election though.