BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Baesler, Bunning likely to dish it out
Tucked away in the far southwest corner of Kentucky, near where the Ohio snakes into the Mississippi, the Commonwealth's campaign season begins in earnest at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
That's when the first speaker will take the podium at the 118th Fancy Farm picnic, a well-attended church picnic in Graves County that over the years has morphed into the premier political event in the state.
While many in the crowd of 15,000 come to eat the thousands of pounds of pork and mutton prepared by volunteers from picnic host St. Jerome Catholic Church, the politicians and their partisan backers attend to mainly chew on one another.
Since the 1995 free-for-all that the picnic became in that gubernatorial election year, organizers annually plead for decorum and pray for obedience from the hundreds of who come for the barbecue and stay for the heckling.
Three years ago bus loads of rowdies blew air horns, threw objects on stage, shouted speakers down and hit one another with campaign signs.
Ever since, those who put the picnic on, the good people at St. Jerome, have implored the candidates and their supporters to take it easy.
In 1996, political commentator Al Smith, who served as the picnic's master of ceremonies, used a baseball bat that he waved over his head and smacked on the podium to calm the crowd when it started to become surly.
But last year, when no electionswere on the ballot, the crowd was so subdued and restrained that even the organizers pined, just a little, for some of the spitfire Fancy Farm is famous for.
The 1995 picnic "was an embarrassment," Bob Spaulding, known as the Father of Fancy Farm, said last year after the event. "But (1997) is a little quieter than we're used to. It will pick up again next year with the elections."
It sure should.
And the main event will feature Northern Kentucky's own Jim Bunning, the Southgate Republican and six-term Congressman now running for the U.S. Senate against Lexington Democrat U.S. Rep. Scotty Baesler.
Since the Senate race is the only statewide contest on the ballot in November, the speeches from Mr. Bunning and Mr. Baesler are sure to attract most of the interest and generate a good share of the heckling, hollering and haranguing that simply can't be avoided or completely quashed in such a politically charged environment.
Mr. Bunning rarely avoids a chance to debate, challenge or even argue a bit with an opponent, a reporter or even a constituent. He's tough and doesn't back down when a confrontation beckons or arises, so Fancy Farm will probably be in an environment in which Mr. Bunning is comfortable.
But aside from the shouting and political posturing, this Saturday's picnic will be played out in what will probably be the most hotly contested region of the state when it comes to the Bunning - Baesler race.
Political pundits, strategists and watchers across the state are beginning to focus on Kentucky's 1st and 2nd congressional districts, areas of the state best described as west and south of Louisville, as the real keys to the Senate contest.
The picnic will give some of those valued western Kentucky voters the chance to see the candidates in action, hear their stump speeches and see how they perform under the loud pressure of a Fancy Farm crowd. Mr. Bunning has to feel pretty good about his standing in the race right now. He is climbing in the polls.
Since his primary victory over state Sen. Barry Metcalf was achieved without spending much of his campaign money, Mr. Bunning enjoys what is certain to be an insurmountable lead in raising funds for the race.
Before a $250,000 fund-raiser last week at the Governor's Mansion, Mr. Baesler was about $300,000 in the hole, his war chest depleted during the Democratic primary that featured well-funded challenges from Louisville businessman and millionaire Charlie Owen and Lt. Gov. Steve Henry.
Mr. Bunning, meanwhile, is flush with about $1.6 million in cash. He'll have to continue to raise money, and he will, with the likes of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former President George Bush and National Rifle Association President and actor Charlton Heston, scheduled to breeze into the state over the next several weeks to headline Bunning fund-raisers.
Mr. Baesler has also peppered the media with almost daily attacks and questions about Mr. Bunning's voting record and actions in Congress. In recent days the Baesler camp has accused Mr. Bunning of being soft on crime, hard on senior citizens and too cozy with insurance companies when it comes to his stance on the patients' rights bills bouncing around Washington.
There is no hard, fast rule on this, but most pols will tell you that the candidate who sees himself with ground to gain lashes out and goes on the offensive, which is what Mr. Baesler is appearing to do.
So Mr. Bunning heads into western Kentucky and the Fancy Farm picnic in pretty good shape. With the taunting, yelling and goading still to come, we'll see how he comes out. .
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for the Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort.
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