"Former white suprmacist"

Odd little caption from the EWE birthday tribute at NOLA.com yesterday under a photo from 1991.

Edwin Edwards, left, and David Duke, prepare to discuss their candidacies on WDSU's "Meet the Press," November 10, 1991, in New Orleans. Edwards beat Duke, a former white supremacist, in the 1991 gubernatorial election to serve his last term. Both Edwards and Duke's success embarrassed Louisiana. Edwards had been plagued by government corruption scandals during his prior time in office. Duke was a high-profile racist.

I guess he must have come out of retirement recently.  I kind of get what they're saying, though.  In 1991, Duke really was selling himself as a "former white supremacist" in order to pretty himself up for politics. Most people didn't believe him, of course. But he still got a fair amount of "on many sides" benefit of the doubt in the press anyway. Would he even need to pretend today?