I was living in Louisiana at the time and was in college at the Univ. of S.W. La. (USL). The general feeling in the couintry was conservatism was the way to go. Also. I remember at the time the country was just sort of also going through a feeling of high taxes and the blacks are getting everything by not working and that cromes against black people received more attention due to the race card (their words not mine). So, Duke ran on a platform of "I will make sure white and all people get what they deserve, etc." I remember the whole thing just sickened me.
Here is another site:
http://www.adl.org/special_reports/d...duke_intro.asp