I was thinking about the infamous Louisiana gubernatorial election of my youth between White Supremacist David Duke (R) and the ethically challenged Edwin Edwards (D).  Somehow I thought it was in the early 1980s but it was in fact in 1991.  I suppose I wasn’t so much young as naive.

When Donald Trump first began his run for the presidency, I remarked to a friend that he was Edwin Edwards all over again.  I was only half right, he was an uncanny (or perhaps canny) combination of Edwards and Duke.   Somehow he had combined the worst parts of both and attracted a large following.

Duke never won another election, but remained on the fringes of politics, less a cautionary tale than a low water mark.  Edwards spent much of his senior years in jail. He was looking at starring in a reality TV show after his release from prison but it never materialized.  Wiki has most of the facts from that historic contest.

1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election

I supposedly have a good memory, at least for things that happened a long time ago.  So my family and old friends tell me.  Ask me what I had for lunch yesterday and it’s a different story.  From Lit Hub.

The Man Who Remembered Everything—and Thought It Was Normal