Former rivals endorse within party ranks in Senate race

(AP) — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Foster Campbell received backing Tuesday for his runoff campaign from a former rival who during the primary election linked him to white supremacist David Duke.

Democrat Caroline Fayard, the fourth-place finisher in Louisiana's U.S. Senate race, endorsed Campbell at a time when politicians are putting aside internal disputes to line up behind their parties' candidates in the Dec. 10 runoff.

Fayard in return sought to tie Campbell to Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate seat, by showing Campbell in a photo shaking hands with Duke and by running an ad that used one of Campbell's quotes out of context to make it seem like he agreed with Duke on issues.

"After the setbacks suffered last week by the Democratic Party nationally,? it gives me great hope to know that Foster Campbell will protect President Obama's legacy and fight for the same Democratic Party values that Secretary (Hillary) Clinton, myself, and so many others have championed," Fayard said in a statement.

Among Republicans, Kennedy — the front-runner in the runoff competition — picked up the support of one-time rival Boustany, who during the campaign had blamed Kennedy for spreading allegations that Boustany was a client of prostitutes who were later killed.