But the bad news for Republicans is that Duke doesn’t need decent poll numbers to inflict damage. His mere presence in the race is enough to cause the party pain—and is, in fact, already doing so.

Desperate to distance themselves from Duke, state Republican leaders and candidates issued statements denouncing him immediately after he announced his candidacy on July 22. Party officials then scrambled to derail his candidacy. At first, they thought about taking the problem to court. “We looked at litigating to get him thrown off the ballot as a Republican,” said Jason Doré, executive director of the Louisiana GOP. But it quickly became apparent, said Doré, that this would require wide-reaching statutory changes that would throw “the entire election into chaos.”

Another problem: The state party has no bylaws controlling who can run as a Republican. This must change, said Doré. The party’s governing committee will meet later this month to consider adopting a rule barring any felon from using the Republican brand. (Starting in the spring of 2003, Duke spent a year in prison for tax evasion and mail fraud. Among other naughtiness, he had solicited donations from his followers under the pretense of financial troubles and then blown the money on gambling.)

The governing committee is also exploring ways to bar someone from appearing on the ballot as a Republican if members feel that the candidate, as Doré put it, “doesn’t represent our values.” He is meeting with Louisiana’s attorney general and secretary of state this week to discuss possible options.

But none of this will have an impact on Duke’s current run. It’s too late for that, Doré acknowledged. These efforts are more about staving off future nightmares than waking up from the current one.

Meanwhile, at the parish level, Republican executive committees are trying to determine if they can exclude Duke from their endorsement meetings (at which candidates make a pitch for the committee’s backing). As for the state party’s endorsement, Doré said, “As of now, we don’t have plans for endorsing.” But he noted, “There has been some discussion of endorsing all the major Republican candidates and excluding Duke.”

“Everything possible is being done politically by Republicans to shut his mouth and shut him off,” said Bernie Pinsonat, co-founder of the independent polling firm Southern Media & Opinion Research. But he adds, “You have to be careful. You don’t want to appear to stomp on his constitutional rights and make him somebody worthy of more attention.”

The party definitely doesn’t want to give him “free ink,” stressed Doré. “We thought it was very important from outset that we came out and made it clear where we stood. But we are not going to continue to engage him every day.”

There’s no question that daily skirmishes are exactly what Duke is aiming for. On Twitter, he and his followers are constantly slamming the state party as a whole and Doré in particular. (Among other efforts, Duke’s fans have set up a parody Twitter account using Doré’s name and photo.) “The white supremacists are coming after us,” said Doré. “They are trying to draw us out.”