Mitchell Urges Bush to Endorse Duke Foe

WASHINGTON — President Bush should urge Louisiana voters to support former Gov. Edwin W. Edwards against one-time Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, Senate Democratic leader George J. Mitchell of Maine said Sunday.

But White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu said that Bush has made his opposition to Duke clear and that endorsing Edwards might strike Louisiana voters as undue outside interference.

“I’ve made my position clear on this. I want to do what’s going to help see that Mr. Duke is not elected,” said Bush when asked about Mitchell’s suggestion.

The White House has repudiated Duke, a Republican who finished second to Edwards, a Democrat, in Louisiana’s Oct. 19 free-for-all gubernatorial primary, forcing a runoff between the two on Nov. 16.