Mr. Duke's racist appeals did distressingly well in the Louisiana governor's race last month.

The coded racist appeals employed by some Republican candidates over the last decade - including not only Jesse Helms but George Bush - did much to make overt racism more respectable.

The party might temporarily prosper with racist appeals, but he warned that the nation would suffer and hence the G.O.P. as well.

The key battleground, then, lies in the lakefront wards where Mr. Washington attracted the votes of whites who rejected what they considered racist appeals by his opponents.

It is that line, rather than overt racist appeals, that is the crux of his message, but often there is a fine line.

The candidates signed a "fair campaign" agreement that condemned racist appeals.

His campaign was marked by racist appeal and he supported Jim Crow laws.

Such drastic measures included using racist appeals to win allies among Democrats.

Ninety percent of those voters who remained undecided into the late stage of the campaign were white, most of them rural, presenting a tempting target for blatantly racist appeals from Mr. Helms.

Mr. Mason said Mr. Stanton's remarks amounted to a racist appeal to the Dutchess County jurors.