Some University student leaders are taking next week's Louisiana gubernatorial election into their own hands.

Chris Markham, Undergraduate Student Government director of local affairs and USG mayoral intern, has organized a letter-writing campaign to discourage student voters in Louisiana from voting for David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader and current Republican candidate for Louisiana governor.

"We might be able to sway them," Markham said. "That's all we're looking for -- if we can change a couple minds, then it is worth it."

Duke is running against former Gov. Edwin Edwards, a Democrat. The run-off election is Nov. 16.

Markham said the letters will be sent to student leaders at several of the largest universities in Louisiana, and will have more effect going from students to students.

"We're college students, obviously, and we have the same mindset as other students," he said. "If we were to send them to civic leaders, they wouldn't give them as much credibility."

The letters will emphasize logic and reason rather than emotion, he added.

"We don't want to come across as too harsh and immediately shut off our audience," Markham said. "We want to say, 'review his past and all of the things that he has said.' "

USG President Mark Stewart said the project is a good idea, but added that Louisiana may be too far away for the letters to have a substantial impact.

"It's distant, so there's not a whole lot of effect that we could have," Stewart said. "But if it could happen there, it could happen here, and that is scary."

Stewart also noted that Pennsylvania, like Louisiana, has a strong Ku Klux Klan following and that "Hitler came to power by legal means, too."

Letters will be written by Markham, Derek Nadalini, former USG director of local affairs, and possibly members of Black Caucus, B'nai Brith Hillel, Womyn's Concerns and the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance, Markham said.

"We'd like to do as many letters as we can," he said.

Matthew Fein, B'nai Brith Hillel co-president, said his organization will contribute letters to the project, and they also may send letters to various newspapers.

"(Duke) has neo-Nazi ties," Fein said. "He's telling everyone that is the past, but you just don't drop dirty habits."

Fein said Duke "is appealing to the white middle class," giving him a good chance of victory and putting him "one step closer to the presidency."

The project may not have a great effect on the election, since most people who would vote for Duke would not bother to read the letters, he said.