Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, here at work in the Arizona House of Representatives, has gained unwelcome support from white-supremacist groups after he forwarded a racist article. "I have never supported these kinds of groups," Pearce, who apologized for the e-mail, has said. "This is America. It's about standing up for what's right."

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The rhetoric of Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, against illegal immigrants, coupled with a racist e-mail he inadvertently forwarded to friends several weeks ago, has rallied at least one group of unwelcome supporters: white supremacists.

Around the country — on blogs, forums and e-mails — members and supporters of white-supremacist groups have been posting the news articles about Pearce on the Internet and cheering him on.

"Please offer whatever support you can for Rep. Pearce because he's standing in the face of an avalanche of brown mud, fighting for the very future of his people, and the multi cultis are biting at his ankles as he tries to stand on both feet," wrote someone on white-supremacist Web site Stormfront.org.

Another forum member followed up by asking, "Has anyone sent the man an e-mail? Let's help wake him up."

Pearce's personal e-mail address has been posted on several such forums, including Stormfront.org and Resistance .com, a Web site run by the National Alliance. The e-mail address posted on these sites was the same one Pearce used when he inadvertently forwarded an article published by the National Alliance to supporters.

The article alleges the media are controlled by Jews and takes jabs at multiculturalism. The Southern Poverty Law Center considers the National Alliance a neo-Nazi group. Pearce apologized numerous times for the incident, saying he did not agree with the e-mail's message.

On Friday, Pearce said he has very little knowledge about the different white-supremacist groups, but he is disturbed that they are posting his e-mail address on their sites.

"There are groups out there that are just full of hate," Pearce said. "And they love to co-opt peoples' statements or issues as if they are on that side, when it's just not true.

"I have never supported these kinds of groups. This is about America. It's about standing up for what's right," he added.

Experts on hate groups say it's no surprise that Pearce attracts the attention of white supremacists. Immigration is a hot issue for such groups, and when they hear Pearce's position, they see a candidate who is reflecting some of their views.

"There's no doubt at all that immigration has helped spur the growth of hate groups pretty dramatically in the last few years," said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"The reasons are obvious," Potok said. "First of all, immigration is an issue with huge resonance in the public … and, of course, at the end of the day, it's an issue with very strong racial resonance."

Pearce is not the only politician that has the support of white supremacists. Other candidates, including immigration hard-liner Randy Graf and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., are also praised on hate Web sites

Most recently, a self-proclaimed Klansman on Stormfront.org bragged that he had infiltrated Graf's campaign for Congress. Graf also had some troubles similar to Pearce's when former Klansman and Louisiana Rep. David Duke posted a link on his own Web site to Graf's campaign site.

"The fact is, (Pearce) is for stopping the invasion, and I think that goes without saying that most if not all white nationalists are in agreement with him on that," said Alan Hosier, a spokesman for the Tempe-based chapter of the National Vanguard, a splinter group of the National Alliance.

Erich Gliebe, the chairman of the National Alliance, agreed.

"Because he has such a strong stance on immigration, I personally think he's a white separatist," Gliebe said. "He may not be willing to admit it."

But Pearce said Friday that his views on immigration have nothing to do with race.