Fringe figure David Duke hijacks final Senate debate

Invite a guy who's desperate for attention onto a crowded debate stage, and of course he's going to suck up all the oxygen.

And so Wednesday night's second and final U.S. Senate primary debate devolved into a debacle centered on the one participant who has no shot of becoming Louisiana's next United States senator, David Duke.

Including the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and convicted felon was sponsor Raycom Media's decision, based solely on the findings of its own outlying poll, the only recent survey that has shown him topping — just barely — the 5 percent threshold.

The other candidates, state Treasurer John Kennedy, Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, lawyer Caroline Fayard and U.S. Reps. Charles Boustany and John Fleming, each scored at least twice that high, and are all running well-funded, professionally managed campaigns. Duke's effort so far has amounted to little more than an invective-laden Twitter feed and a couple of robocalls aimed at linking himself to the man he says inspired his run, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Read more: http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/stephanie_grace/article_b90b552c-a1e4-11e6-b344-67c0710e2cb8.html